Skeleton Framework
by Snowsheba
Summary: You have to get the bare bones of Ossos Academy itself if you want to learn about Pokemon and school subjects and anything. As it turns out, digging up those bones is easy: it's what comes afterwards (fighting, running, rankings, uncertainty, hopelessness, fear) that is pretty freaking hard. [T for future events. OC submission open, by PM only!]
1. Prologue - Deep Down Under

**Prologue, or Deep Down Under.**

* * *

Near the invisible line dividing Kanto from Johto, there is a wide-open plain that stretches as far as the eye can see. Around this plain is a forest of trees; beyond the forest of trees, there is a white-capped mountain that looms up and up from below. Settled into this plain, right at the edge of the forest, is a school. It is a school for both general education and Pokémon training alike, and its secluded location makes it the perfect place for refinement of both areas of study.

This school houses an expansive campus. With the main building hosting three floors, an entire wing devoted to STEM programs, three gymnasiums, one eight-lane fifty-meter pool, and plenty of wide-open space, there is more than enough room for each student and their Pokémon no matter where they choose to go. Wide, sweeping dormitories allow for comfortable and social on-campus life, and a beautiful courtyard within the school's own bounds gives students a peaceful place to study and chat.

The cafeteria in this school offers a wide variety of food that is not seen elsewhere in other schools – or, indeed, in this very region. Students will be treated to delicious dishes on a daily basis, and with this school's unique style of choosing one's own meal, students will be able to pick and tailor which food they want to eat each and every day. Our professional cooks spare nothing to make their dishes, and students will be more than happy with the fruits of their labor.

Given each class consists of only fifteen students at most, teachers are able to work with each student quickly and effectively no matter the subject matter. A homeroom class gives students a home base in which they can speak to a trusted adult about any problems that may arise; a large staff ensures that each student's experience in their chosen classes will remain unique to that class. Kind, understanding administration provides a supportive, friendly place for students to come with their troubles, and counselors are able to focus on each individual student, understanding what works best for each.

In this school, there is a plethora of skilled, intelligent, and battle-savvy students. Each student's talent is carefully monitored so that they may always know when to improve, where to improve, and how to improve. This level of individual care is not found in any other school in the region, and any student who is lucky enough to attend is guaranteed success in their future.

These combined qualities are more than enough to place Ossos Academy as the best school in the region. Congratulations on passing the prerequisite exams and making it into the ranks of our future alumni. We welcome you with open arms, and we look forward to seeing you on the first day of the term.

Sincerely,

[illegible signature]

* * *

 _Some time in the past..._

He then folded up the brochure, tossed it onto his bed to join the rest of the contents of his acceptance letter, and proclaimed to no one in particular, "This is the dumbest thing I've ever read in my entire life."

Even as he said this, he already knew that the school that had been so stupidly, meticulously described in the paper was the very same one he was to attend in just a few days. The place hadn't sounded so bad at face-value, but he knew of its hidden qualities, of the things that the school didn't dare put to print – the things that former students would never speak about, the things they would persistently deny if asked about them.

Ossos Academy was not a normal high school. Those committed into its walls were destined to come out changed – and for most, this change was not a good one. Some came out as shells of their former selves; others, previously gentle and kind, became ruthless and relentless. Their Pokémon underwent similar transformations, and he himself had seen firsthand what kind of treatment the students received there, the scars that laced over hands, arms, legs, necks, sometimes even faces, on humans and Pokémon alike.

Yet he could not deny their graduates' success. Many of those who came from Ossos Academy _were_ highly skilled, highly intelligent, highly battle-savvy; more than one had gone on to challenge the League, and many others had secured high-ranking jobs that would have otherwise been beyond their reach. For all that it was brutal, Ossos was effective; and in the end, it was the results that the public cared about. He couldn't remember a single instance of Ossos press being negative in any way, and he had been tracking the Academy in the news for a few years now.

He looked over at his empty suitcase, and wondered what – or if – he should begin packing. He felt it understandable that he was not eager to try his luck, and for a few long moments, he wistfully imagined a scenario where he might escape the responsibilities the acceptance letter had set upon his shoulders. But alas, the decision had been made, and it was final. Regardless of whether he liked the idea or not, he was going, and he knew with grim determination that he had to be as ready as he could ever be.

"I'm so screwed," he said to himself, as he forced himself to his feet and moseyed over to his closet.

* * *

 _Present_

She fancied that she was staring death in the face as she cradled her unconscious Pokémon in her arms.

"Looks like that's a loss! – Take one star from her and send her on her way."

The crowd around her roared, as her opponent advanced, reached down, and tore one of two yellow stars from her uniform's collar. She felt herself trembling as she slowly, painfully forced herself to her feet, holding her Pokémon briefly before returning it into a Pokéball – just in time for her opponent to shove her away from her.

"Quit standing around and get out! You lost. That's it for you."

She turned on her heel, holding back tears through willpower alone, and moved her feet forward, stumbling a bit before she found her stride. She looked at her shoes as she walked through the enormous number of students crowded around the ring, and all of them booed and catcalled her as she went.

She kept one hand over the star on her collar the entire time. At this point, it was something she could not afford to lose.

* * *

 **A wild OC submission story appears! What will Reader do?**

 **[FIGHT] [BAG]  
[PKMN] [RUN]**

 **Reader selects [FIGHT]!**

 **If you haven't done this before, don't be disheartened; just mosey over to my profile and scroll to the bottom of my bio. There you will find the OC form, which you will then copy-paste into a PM, fill out, and send along to me. Once you do this, you'll wait for a bit while I go write the next chapter, and then your character will appear in the following update. Easy-peasy.**

 **Please keep in mind that OCs will be immediately rejected if they are submitted by review. No, seriously, I will not consider them for a moment. Give them to me by PM, just so we save you some time and save me some annoyance because I've reiterated this maybe three times now. Thanks!**


	2. 1 - Orientation

**Chapter 1, or Orientation.**

 **OC submission form is on my profile! Please do the thing and send one in to me if you're interested – more deets at the end.**

* * *

 _Monday, September 3rd  
Day 1  
MORNING: Hallway_

"Class 1-A, Class 1-A..."

James peered up to look at the sign next to the door, read the label, and sighed, shaking his head. His chin brushed against his uniform's collar, and the three stars that were carefully pinned there.

"No, this is class 1-C, so I guess it must be further down the hall. – I probably should have grabbed a map on the way in. Ugh."

He swiped at the brown hair at his forehead and pressed on, his hand crinkling the schedule in his fingers. Ossos Academy was largely abandoned at this point, which had been James's intent; he wasn't about to wander around aimlessly during school hours. No, much better that he get up just a bit earlier so he could locate his homeroom, at the very least.

Well, all right, perhaps a full hour before school actually began may have been overkill, but James preferred caution over everything else, as he stopped in front of the next door and looked to its accompanying sign just to its left.

"1-B," he read, and then gave himself a small smile as he noted, "Just a bit further, then."

The halls of the school were pristine, he noticed as he went along. The floors were simple cream tiles that squeaked under his brown hiking boots – freshly waxed, considering how much they shone under the tasteful selection of lights that hung from the ceiling, far above even him and his tall frame. There were no lockers here, simply mural upon mural adorning the walls, each depicting one Pokémon type with flowing lines and carefully-chosen colors.

He paused by one that showcased the grass-types, reaching out and running a green-gloved hand across its surface, pausing at the abstract image that could only be a Serperior. His own such Pokémon, Majas, was currently resting inside a Pokéball at his waist, but he knew the Pokémon would have enjoyed seeing itself so artfully painted upon the school's walls. It was a true shame Pokémon were not allowed to wander before or during classes, James reflected as he drew back his hand and pressed on.

He stopped in front of the final door in the hallway and held his breath as his green eyes flicked over the door's label. He needn't have worried: he had finally located 1-A, his classroom for the term. A glance behind him revealed that the psychic-type mural was opposite 1-A, and he felt a small sense of disappointment (couldn't it have been water-type? That would've been the best) as he tested the door to see if it was locked. It was not, and it opened with little resistance and entirely no noise as he stepped inside.

He wasn't the only one who had decided to come in absurdly early – seated in one of the desks, nose buried in a book, was a young boy who looked no older than fifteen. He apparently didn't notice James enter until the door closed softly behind him, after which he lifted his head, brushing silver hair out of his face and meeting James's gaze with crimson-red eyes.

"Hi," James said after a moment, giving a tentative smile. There were few personal articles students could wear after they donned Ossos Academy's school uniform, but it seemed the boy had kept his own shoes and gloves, just as James had. Or glove, singular, James noted, given there was only black leather upon the boy's right hand, while his left was bare.

The other boy blinked at him for a bit, reaching up to adjust the silver glasses perched on his nose, and then his lips curled up slightly and he greeted, "Hello."

Ah, so he would be able to converse with him after all; James had been worried for a few moments there. "I thought I'd be the only one to try and get to class this early, to be honest," James said, both in an effort to make small-talk and because he was curious.

The boy shrugged. He really was quite young; James wondered what he was doing in a senior class. "I did not want to be late on the first day, and my Pokémon woke me up early today for whatever reason. I might as well make use of the daylight and find my way around."

"I feel that," James agreed, and then vaguely looked around the room. It was the classic setup – teacher's desk up front with a blank wall, fit for the electronic whiteboards that were so popular these days, desks lining the rest of the room. The exception to the rule was the number of desks themselves; there seemed to be only ten. "Does it matter where we sit?"

"I do not know. I figured first come, first serve. Not like it matters, in the end. – Did you transfer recently, too?"

"Yeah, fresh from some school I really don't care about," James said, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. The buttons on the uniform's sleeves somehow caught in his brown hair, and he reached back with both hands, gently untangling them as he added, "Honestly, I'm kind of nervous. There're lots of rumors about this place."

"Are there? All I know is that it is a very good school to attend," the boy said, closing his book softly and placing it flat on his desk. James managed to free himself from his own hair and glanced at the cover; a mystery novel, it seemed. The boy in front of him seemed like the type, as he folded pale fingers with gloved ones in front of him. "Some people I know graduated from here and were very successful. I'd like that for myself."

"To each his own," James said, not intent on gossiping about what may or may not be. There was no point if he only had whispers, ghosts of the truth, and the boy seemed to agree with this, since he did not ask for clarification. Instead, James walked over and stuck out a hand. "I'm James Clemmer. It's nice to meet you."

"Ab – Ray Zimmerman," the boy said. His grip was gentle, and his face was open and friendly. "Pleasure."

James raised an eyebrow at the slight slip – it was as if Ray had meant to say something else – but didn't comment; he wasn't one to judge, after all. "Must be fun to have that last name."

"Pardon?"

"Don't tell me you don't know of the Zimmermans? Their research is revolutionary, isn't it?" James shook his head, grinning. "Guess you must not be from around Kalos. I'd thought you were, since you have that accent, haha."

Ray tilted his head, blinking a few times before casting his eyes towards the book on his desk. The deep ebony of the school's uniform contrasted sharply with his pale skin and pale hair, the three yellow stars shining brightly from his collar, and for a few moments, he fingered the buttons on the coat – but then he said neutrally, "You are correct, I am from Kalos. It's just – often I have been asked if I am related to the Zimmermans. It grows old after a while."

"That's what I meant, actually, sorry to bother you with it again though. I was just curious - I mean, what if you'd been their son? That would be pretty cool. Brush with fame and all that," James mused, slipping into the desk next to Ray's. "Anyway, what's that book you're reading?"

Ray looked grateful for the change in subject, as he picked up the novel and slipped it over to James. "It's the latest installment in the series. I don't suppose you like a good mystery?"

"Only when I don't have to solve it," James said with a chuckle. Ray grinned back, and James decided that today couldn't be so bad, if he had already made a friend.

* * *

 _MORNING: Girls' Dormitories_

She awoke to rough shaking and a quiet voice murmuring, "CC, it's time to get up."

" _Cinq minutes, je veux seulement cinq minutes de plus_ ," she mumbled, huddling deeper into her pillow and blankets.

The hand on her shoulder didn't seem to care about her pain, instead shaking her harder. "CC, come _on_. I'd really prefer not being late on the first day."

"Mrrph."

The words registered in her mind a moment later, and just like that, a jolt of alertness temporarily snapped her eyes open. Cicely groggily threw her covers off of herself, causing her assailant to let out a startled yelp, and rolled the opposite way until she fell off the bed with a thud. She lay there for a few moments, the pain slowly making its way to her brain. " _Aïe_ ," she said after a few moments, belatedly.

Something nudged her elbow; probably Lestia's foot. "C'mon, CC, time to get up. And next time, don't toss away your blanket or I'm keeping it."

" _Tu es_ – you're a terr'ble roommate," Cicely slurred as she sat up, blinking blearily. The dorm room slowly came into focus: her bed, Lestia's bed just across the way, the black plush carpet she was sitting on and the bedside table she was leaning her back again, the windows with sunlight streaming through the glass. The walls were black, the floors and ceiling white – in fact, everything seemed monochrome here, down to the checkered shower curtains. "What time is it?"

"Seven fifty. Class starts in about a half-hour. I wasn't sure how long you take to get ready, so I figured I'd get you up a bit earlier today."

"Bleh."

"I'll take that as a thank you. Now come on; up you get." Lestia accompanied her words but nudging Cicely's knee this time, and Cicely sighed deeply as if she had been personally offended, getting to her feet nonetheless.

" _Merci_ ," she said grudgingly, eyeing Lestia. She'd met her roommate just yesterday, a short girl with smoky gray eyes and smooth black hair and a small, nervous smile, and already she could see that she had been lucky to have a roommate who put up with her morning self.

"No problem." Lestia, at this point, was adjusting her uniform – a dark black jacket, lined with white, lace-like string, with a white shirt and black tie underneath. For girls there was the option to wear a skirt, but Lestia seemed to have taken the pants route instead, finishing the look off with plain white sneakers and three yellow stars on her collar. Cicely felt faint. She _had_ to take her roommate shopping to fix the walking fashion disaster as soon as possible.

All in due time, she told herself, giving the girl a smile and saying, "Sorry. I, uh, take a bit to get moving."

"I've noticed," Lestia said dryly, and Cicely flushed, embarrassed, as the girl went on, "Bathroom's open, and don't take too long, okay?" Cicely nodded, as Lestia shook her head. "I can't believe each room has their own _bathroom_. This place must be loaded."

"It is Ossos Academy," Cicely pointed out with a rueful shrug before dragging herself over to the room in question. It was terrible that she couldn't wear her adorable outfit she'd planned out just for today – stupid uniforms – but she, at least, would make sure her clothes were both cute and functional for when she needed to kick someone's butt. Lestia's combination with her uniform just looked... tired. Kind of backcountry. Ick.

By the time Cicely came back out of the bathroom, freshly cleaned and fully dressed in uniform – a skirt for her, with white knee socks and black shoes – Lestia had taken the liberty of letting both her and Cicely's own Pokémon out of their Pokéballs, and she was currently petting her Togekiss while her Aerodactyl perched delicately on the floor, wings tucked in so as to prevent them from knocking something over. Cicely's Hawlucha was sitting on her bed with her Emolga on its head, and she smiled at the sight of them.

"Who's excited for the first day of school?" she cooed, ruffling both of the Pokémons' heads. They chittered at her in return, and Cicely heard Lestia give out a soft laugh. Which, speaking of future responsibilities that involved going to certain places, reminded her – "What time is it now?"

"We have a few minutes," Lestia said, glancing over at the clock above the door – oh, right, Cicely had forgotten it was there. It was eight-oh-five. "But we should probably get moving, since I don't really know where Room 1-A is and, like I said earlier, I really don't want to be late."

"Let's go, then! And sorry, guys, you'll have to go back to the Pokéballs," Cicely said apologetically, and her Pokémon let out the equivalent of a resigned sigh before allowing themselves to be sucked into the orbs. She attached them to her waist, giving them a light pat before swinging her bag over her shoulder and turning towards the door. Lestia was already there, holding it open, and Cicely gave her a smile as thanks as she walked through.

The dorms were alive with muffled chatter as the rest of the school prepared for the first day, but their walk through the dorm hallway was relatively peaceful; it seemed the other girls were still getting ready, for the most part. When they stepped outside, however, there were plenty of other students milling about, some chatting and laughing but most walking quickly and purposefully, heads down.

"It's pretty quiet," Lestia remarked as they entered the school proper. The name 1-A implied the room was on the first floor, so neither of them bothered with the stairs as they went onwards. "Usually schools are louder in the morning, at least in my experience."

"I was just thinking the same thing. – Oh, here's a map." Indeed, there was one painstakingly painted onto the wall itself, and the two girls crowded around it. A red dot indicated their current location, and after a few moments, Cicely reached out and placed her index finger on a square labeled with their room number. "Here we go. So we just continue down this hallway, and then turn left before the stairs."

"I trust your judgment," Lestia said, and the two of them set off, a little bit unnerved by the general quietness of the place. Surely the hallways should be alive with noise, as they always were just before classes began in any school; then again, Cicely noted, it should come as no surprise that Ossos was the exception to the rule. Everyone who came here was destined for greatness, so it seemed, and it therefore made sense that the atmosphere would be more serious and tense.

They turned left at the stairwell and found the hallways suddenly adorned with colorful murals, along with their classroom being practically right in front of them, just a few paces down. Lestia stopped at the painting across their room, an ode to psychic-types if Cicely wasn't mistaken, and reached out to touch the image of an Espeon. Cicely admired the brushstrokes and colors; it was both vibrant yet subtle, in a way that very much did not make sense.

"Look at this technique," Lestia said. "It's incredible. I wonder who made this?"

"There's got to be a signature somewhere," Cicely said, and her violet eyes began darting around the picture, looking for anything slightly out of place. She found it a moment later, leaning in and pointing to a tiny signature hidden in the Mr. Mime's shoe: "Athena Klymene," she read, as Lestia ducked down to look with her. "Hey, the year here is the same one we're graduating in. Maybe we'll get to meet her."

"I doubt it," Lestia said with a laugh, and Cicely shrugged, smiling, flicking her orange hair away from her face. "What are the odds we'll run into the amazing painter we're looking for on a campus like this?"

"You never know. It _is_ a smaller school."

"True. Let's go in, classes start in a few minutes."

There were seven others in the room when they entered. In the front were two boys, one with brown hair, the other with striking silver, different than the others only for the fact that they were engaged in deep discussion over a book – the only noise in an otherwise silent class. Both looked over and waved at the two girls as they went towards the desks before resuming their own conversation, yet another oddity. Cicely resolved to get to know them a bit better; they were probably newer students here too, and new kids ought to stick together, in her opinion.

"Oh, we were one of the last ones here," Lestia said. She looked nervous, but then, that was nothing new. "Maybe I should've woken you up earlier, CC."

"We're _fine_ ," Cicely said dismissively, accompanying her words with a hand flap. "I'd just worry about the teacher and the other student at this point."

"I guess," Lestia said doubtfully as they sat down next to each other, and as she said this, the bell rang – and two people rushed into the room, one that was presumably their teacher and the other the final student, a tall girl with pale blonde hair and silvery eyes that flicked about until they saw the only open desk, wherein she advanced and slipped into the chair as the teacher up front cleared his throat.

"Pardon my lateness, kids. We'll be taking roll call now." He flicked a tablet up and read off, "James Clemmer?"

"Here."

Cicely immediately took note of the boy, noting that he was one of the two who had greeted her and Lestia. He was the tall, lanky brunet in – oh Arceus, green gloves and boots with _this_ uniform? The fashion police might as well shoot everyone in this classroom, and she missed the next few names while she mourned this fact.

"Cicely Weiss?"

The sound of her own name snapped Cicely out of her funk. "It's pronounced 'vice'," she said. "And I prefer CC."

"Very well, CC. Lestia Whytoo?"

"Here."

"Rayne Zimmerman?"

"Present, and I prefer Ray."

That was a Kalosian accent. That was _definitely_ a Kalosian accent. Cicely knew she had to get to know the silver-haired boy better now; it wasn't often she ran into someone who spoke the same language as her. Even better, his shoes and glove matched the uniform and he actually looked pretty spiffy, thank Arceus.

Everything suddenly went blank in her brain, though, when she heard the teacher call, "Athena Klymene?"

"Present."

Cicely and Lestia flashed glances at each other, eyes wide, and Cicely mouthed _speak of the devil and he will come_. Lestia nodded slightly, shock written all over her features, as the teacher put his tablet down and said, "Looks like everyone's here. Good. Are you all Threes right now?"

There was a general murmur of assent, save for – of course it was Athena, who said, "I'm a Five, sir."

"All right. I expect all of you to be Fives by the end of the year. If you don't know what that means, you'll see at orientation, which we'll be going to in just a few moments. If you have any questions afterwards, don't hesitate to ask myself or Athena. Good to see you again, Klymene, by the way."

Athena merely nodded. Cicely got the feeling she didn't talk much, as the teacher instructed them to follow him to the auditorium. There wasn't any sound as people got up; even the chairs were utterly silent on the floor as they slid out and back in under desks. Lestia looked even more nervous now, her fingers clenching and unclenching in front of her, and Cicely made sure to keep close to her as they filed out into the hallway.

"Hi, uh, CC, right? And Lestia?"

"That's us," Cicely said cheerfully, but quietly; the silence of the hallway, beyond numerous footsteps, was still a little intimidating. She looked behind her to see the two boys from earlier coming up beside them. "Hello! James and Ray, I think?"

"Yeah," James said with a smile. He was tall enough that Cicely had to crane her neck; Lestia had to do the same and more, considering she was even shorter than Cicely's 5'3''. "We were kind of curious about you two, since you were the only other ones who were talking at all."

"You noticed too?"

"It is hard not to," Ray said dryly, and his accent washed over her ears and she sighed happily. She missed Kalos sometimes, but it was good to know there was someone else from there.

" _Parles-tu Kalosian?_ " she asked him, eyebrows raised, and Lestia let out a soft huff of amusement. It wasn't the first time Cicely had approached someone and asked them if they spoke Kalosian, but the last time she had done it, the person had stared blankly at her before running off. She had a good feeling that Ray, however, would respond favorably.

" _Oui_ ," Ray answered, and Cicely cast Lestia a triumphant look, to which her roommate merely shook her head, smiling slightly. Sensing that he would be left out of the conversation, James moved so he was next to Lestia, also putting Cicely next to Ray, and engaged her in easy conversation; Cicely kept one ear peeled to make sure Lestia would be fine conversing with a stranger, and after a few moments, she was confident James wouldn't do anything weird and returned her attention to Ray.

" _D'où êtes-vous de Kalos?_ " she asked him.

" _J'étais né à_ _Illumis, mais j'ai vécu partout dans la region_. _Et toi?_ "

" _Cromlac'h, pour toute ma vie. C'est la prémière fois que je suis partie de chez moi_."

Their conversation continued almost idly as they continued to ask about each other, and Cicely almost didn't notice when they finally arrived at the auditorium.

* * *

 _MORNING: Auditorium_

"Welcome back to Ossos Academy, everyone! I hope your summer vacation was peaceful and enjoyable, because as all returning students know, the whip is cracked the first day you return."

Athena idly twirled her blond hair with her fingers, silver eyes intent on the speaker at the podium. The principal, she knew, and she let her eyes drift across the seats lined up in front of her and to either side, noting the variety of hairstyles and faces. Her hand itched for a pen and a scratchpad.

"Newer students, I know you are confused, so why don't we take a moment to look at the stars on your collar. You should all have three, but maybe you've noticed how others have as many as five or perhaps none at all. I'm sure you're all wondering why that is."

Athena sighed inaudibly. She hated this part of the orientation. Beside her, the girl named Lestia was whispering to her neighbor CC, "I've heard stories about the ranking system here."

 _If only you knew the half of it_ , Athena thought, feeling a stab of pity for the girl, but only briefly.

"These stars indicate your ranking within the school. The more stars you have, the better your school experience; the less you have, the worse your experience. Keeping these stars isn't easy, and earning them is even harder."

"Good Arceus, I'd hoped this wasn't true," Athena heard someone close to her mutter. She cast a glance over; James Clemmer, if she wasn't mistaken. He'd stricken her as the type to know exactly what was going on and, because of that, avoid any trouble entirely, and she pursed her lips before looking forward again; that wouldn't serve him well here.

"I'm sure all of you have two Pokémon with you. They are important; take good care of them. After all, you'll need them to get more stars or maintain the ones you have. You'll be battling with them almost every day in the evening in what we like to call 'the pit'."

 _Dumbest name in existence_ , Athena thought. Lestia agreed, if the little annoyed huff was anything to go by.

"Winning just a single battle in the evening will allow you to keep your current level of stars. You have to win a specified amount of battles in a single evening in order to gain a star. Losing a battle means you lose a star. You never know who your opponent is going to be, either – could be a stranger, or it might be a friend. But it doesn't matter, really; after all, a battle is just a battle."

Athena crossed her arms and leaned back into her chair, frowning. Those rules were different than previous years – usually losses were more lenient, in that you had to lose more than once before you lost a star. She wondered why they had changed that this year, not that it really mattered to her.

"When eight o'clock comes, older students will begin heading for the pit. Newer students, that's your cue to follow them and figure out what's going on. It's your choice whether you want to try and participate on your first day – although just for today, there will be no penalty for losing but still a reward for winning, so I suggest you do. And remember: for every seven days you don't participate in a battle at least once, one of your stars will be removed."

 _Only seven days now, too. It used to be fourteen._

"Keep in mind that at the end of the year, a reward will be given to the classes with the highest amount of Fives – meaning students with five stars, of course. Returning students can tell you the benefits of these rewards, but trust me when I say they are incentive to fight hard."

There must be something I'm missing, Athena thought. The principal seemed overly tense; something bad must have happened over the summer, and they must be trying to cover for it. _But what? What are they trying to hide?_

"One last thing before you go, students. Grades in class also matter: one star will be removed for every class you fail at the end of a semester. Dismissed."

Athena immediately stood up, ignoring the quiet murmurs of new kids in the crowd, and waited, glowering, as people slowly began to file out into the aisles. She didn't have time to wait around; even though she didn't know what had brought about the new changes, she had to be ready for them, and she flexed her hands before closing them into fists.

"More training," she muttered to herself. Tonight was the best time to maintain her winning battle streak, since there was no penalty, and she had to be ready. At this point, it was the only thing she could do.

* * *

 **Contrary to my last story, wherein I spread out the whole fic over thirty different OCs (not the best decision in my life), I'm going to shoot for maybe ten or so OCs that will be the main focus. Any others will be side-characters and only be seen to get the plot rolling, or have their ages jacked up and be cast as villains. Meaning: yes, I will accept OCs for the entirety of the story. You're welcome.**

 **So: first come, first serve. You want to see your OC a lot, better get cracking on the form on my profile, because only class 1-A is going to get the limelight and there are just five slots left.**

 **(Also, we're not going to question the order of the roll call – alphabetizing is for losers. Yup.)**

* * *

 **Translation of the French in this chapter:**

 **When Cicely wakes up, she mumbles,** "Five more minutes, I just want five more minutes." **I'm sure you can figure out the rest from contextual clues.**

 **As for the conversation between Cicely and Ray, here it is for your convenience:**

CICELY: Where are you from in Kalos?

RAYNE: I was born in Lumiose City, but I've lived everywhere in the region. And you?

CICELY: Geosenge Town, for my entire lift. This is the first time I've left home.

* * *

 **Credits go where credits are due. In order of appearance:**

JAMES CLEMMER **belongs to** ThatGreenPlumber **.**

RAYNE ZIMMERMAN **is the brainchild (literally) of** ShadeZyro **.**

LESTIA WHYTOO **is from** Tisuro **.**

CICELY WEISS **comes from** Legacy918 **.**

ATHENA KLYMENE **hails from** NemoTheSurvivor.


	3. 2 - Fight Club

**Chapter 2, or Fight Club.**

 **As always, the OC submission form is on the bottom of my profile page, and you can put it in a PM and send it along to me. Thanks much!**

* * *

 _Monday, September 3rd  
Day 1  
LATE MORNING: Hallway_

"So, um, what you get for lunch is determined by how many stars you have?"

James shrugged at her. Lestia felt no small sense of dawning horror, as she and her other nine classmates walked back to their classroom.

"It is what it is," James said in response to her question. "I've only heard rumors about it, but I guess they're all true."

"But I _like_ food," Lestia said plaintively. Her nerves were buzzing and her hands were shaking, and she forced them into the pockets of her uniform, but the butterflies didn't settle in her stomach. She didn't know whether they were from social anxiety or the thought that she may starve if she didn't do good enough in the evening battles.

"Don't we all," James said with the slightest smile, and then he reached over and patted her shoulder. She jumped at the contact, unconsciously shying away, and James consequently pulled back, changing tactics. "Cheer up! It could be worse – you could have no stars at all."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Lestia asked haltingly, but James merely smiled more widely at her, the skin around his green eyes crinkling. He really didn't seemed concerned in the least, and so Lestia asked, "Aren't you worried?"

"I'll cross the bridge when I get there," James responded, which wasn't really an answer at all. Lestia got the feeling she wouldn't get one out of him, and for a few moments, she floundered. She'd never been good at small-talk, and James wasn't saying anything, meaning she should probably fill the silence with something, sooner rather than later. But she hated talking to strangers in the first place, and she guessed James wasn't a stranger, but still, it was –

She took a deep breath, and said, "Um, you know these murals?" tilting her head towards the one closest to her. This one happened to be dark-types, with an Umbreon almost glowing at its center.

"They're amazing," James replied, as if she hadn't just spent ten seconds in panicked silence.

"They were painted by Athena," Lestia said, her voice dropping to a whisper. Their conversation had already been quiet, given the nature of the Academy itself, but even then the sound seemed to explode in the otherwise silent hallway – beyond Ray and CC chatting animatedly in Kalosian, of course. "The one in our class."

"You're joking." James studied her face and must've seen something that convinced him otherwise, as he said incredulously, "Really?"

"Yes. CC found her signature in the psychic-type one across from, um, from our room."

"Wow... That's actually super cool." James twisted his head around, presumably to find Athena, and Lestia raised an eyebrow when he looked forward again. "She's tall, jeez. Taller than me, and I'm six-foot."

Lestia smiled, though it was too small to accurately exhibit her amusement. "Are you jealous?"

"Not really. Short people like you are usually more down-to-earth."

Despite herself, Lestia burst out into laughter, and James was confused for all of two seconds before he scrambled to backpedal.

"Oh my Arceus, that came out wrong, I – I'm so sorry, Lestia, I didn't mean anything by it."

"It's, um, it's fine," Lestia said honestly. "When you're five-foot-one like me, you get kind of used to comments like that after a while."

"That doesn't make it okay," James pointed out, which she guessed was true, kind of? He seemed much more flustered about it than she was, though, which was a first. "I'll make it up to you."

"You... really don't have to do that."

"Oh yes he does!"

Lestia gasped when CC tackle-hugged her from behind, her heartrate skyrocketing and the adrenaline pumping. Good Arceus, she wasn't built for CC's inexhaustible energy; even though they got along very well despite meeting only days before, Lestia knew her limits, and CC seemed to ignore them at every opportunity.

She was still trembling when her roommate proclaimed, "You're a _lady_ , Lestia! Let the man be chivalrous. It's the least he can do."

"It's r-really not necessary," Lestia managed, and she was so panicked her voice was hardly above a whisper. CC finally seemed to sense her friend's unease and released her grip, instead stepping up to fall in line next to her with Ray close behind.

"You okay?" James asked her, eyes wide in concern, flicking to and from Lestia and CC.

"I'm – I'm fine." Lestia only grew more jumpy at his question – she was slightly taken aback that he asked, actually, but then, he didn't know about her general nervousness and glaring social anxiety. Her palms were sweaty in her pockets. "Um, you really don't have to do anything, though."

"He insulted your honor!" CC insisted, violet eyes wide, "He _has_ to make up for it." Lestia opened her mouth to protest CC's suggestion, but fortunately, Ray beat her to the punch.

"Cicely, perhaps you should stop?" he said, phrasing the command as a suggestion. "It clearly makes Lestia uncomfortable, so that is probably the least you could do."

CC pouted, but thankfully didn't pursue the subject any longer. Instead, she shoved her hands through her orange hair and stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun, Ray."

Ray gave a thin smile, meeting Lestia's eyes and nodding when she shakily mouthed _thanks_. "I do try, believe me – "

"As engaging as your discussion about gentlemanly pursuits is," said a voice that cut through their chatter like a hot knife through butter, "You are blocking the door. Please move."

The four looked back and up to find Athena Klymene glaring down at them, and they immediately pushed inside the classroom, more than a little intimidated. She had been right, though; they'd reached the classroom and had just stood around the door while they had chatted. Lestia felt her cheeks burn as she sat down in the same desk as in the morning, and both Ray and James sent her kind smiles as they did the same. CC took the simpler route, whispering an apology to her as she slipped into the desk next to her, and Lestia felt a little bit better as the teacher swept to the front of the room – until she felt a prickle at the back of her neck and turned her head to find Athena glaring at her.

Lestia snapped her head forward again, her cheeks burning so hot it actually kind of hurt. Athena had been here all four years at Ossos, and given the nature of networking, Lestia knew that she had to at least not be on Athena's bad side. It had been miraculous that she had made friends today at all, though; perhaps her luck had simply run out. Either way, Lestia was too embarrassed to look even her teacher in the eye as he began to speak.

"I assume all of you have your schedules?" No response, and the man smiled brightly. He was probably the same height as CC at 5'3'', but his presence seemed so much larger than that, despite his small size. "Great. As returning students know, the school operates on a specific schedule. You have three core classes on Monday and Thursday and three different core classes on Tuesday and Friday – a sort of A-day, B-day schedule, if you will. Wednesdays and Saturdays are devoted to Pokémon training, and Sunday is a rest day. Any questions on that?"

"What are the core classes?" someone asked. Lestia didn't know who they were, and she wasn't brave enough to turn to look.

"They should all be on your schedule, Josephine," the teacher responded, eyebrows raised.

"I only have room numbers," the student, presumably Josephine, responded. Lestia could hear the smile in her voice. "A misprint, I suppose."

The teacher sighed, and explained, "Core classes are your general subjects. Of course, since you're at Ossos, there are a bit more than you're used to, thus the – well, I wouldn't say strange schedule, but it certainly is different. Anyway, beyond math, history, and language, you also must take several hard science classes: chemistry, biology, and physics. Oh, and physical education. Usually students do that on their own time after school and just fill up a log for grading at each semester."

"At the same time as everything else?" Josephine asked. "What about homework completion, given how many hours are spent on evening activities?"

"You don't have to go fight every day, you know. – And there are top-notch tutoring programs, should you need them," the teacher said, and someone whispered _sick burn, bro_. The teacher's lip curled upward slightly at the comment as he went on, "Which is a nice segue into electives: you can take a total of five. But, as you might have guessed given the number, the amount you can take is based on your ranking. New students can take three; the moment you lose a star, you can't attend the elective anymore until you get the star back."

 _That is a_ terrible _system_ , Lestia thought, and resolved to take only one or two electives. She didn't want to miss any classes, and since she wasn't sure how well she would perform in the evening battles, she didn't want to risk anything.

"You'll find a list of offered electives on the school's brochure or website. You have time to pick which ones you want, too, since they don't begin until next week." The teacher jumped up onto the desk up front and proceeded to sit cross-legged, which, amusingly, added to his height. "Homeroom is about forty minutes long, and your classes are an hour and a half. The entire Academy takes lunch at the same time, after your second official class, and that is an hour long. Then you go to your third class, and then you're done for the day until eight, unless you have electives. Any questions?"

CC asked, "Where's the cafeteria?"

"Why am I not surprised that _that_ is the first question after the explanation?" CC stuck her tongue out at the teacher, who surprised Lestia by laughing, just for a moment, before answering. "It's on the first floor, and there are maps at the ends of every hallway. You're a smart bunch, so I'm sure you can figure it out."

"Doubt it," someone muttered behind her. Lestia, nerves already frazzled from Athena's stone-cold glaring, didn't dare look back to see who it was.

"I heard that, Date." The same someone behind her mumbled a swear even more quietly. "Now then, since we'll be spending the rest of the mornings this year together, I might as well introduce myself." The teacher grinned brightly at them. "Bryan Treble, at your service. I don't teach music, unfortunately for those irony-lovers out there, just Sinnohan history and language. You might have me if you're from that region. Oh, and you can call me Mr. Trebs; you'll find I'm one of the more relaxed teachers around here."

"That is not reassuring," Ray said dryly from the front, and Mr. Treble merely grinned wider. Lestia found the smile to be less than comforting and looked down at her desk.

"We have about a minute before the bell rings, so if you have any last-minute question, now is the time. Considering, you know, it _is_ the last minute."

There was some forced laughter from several students in the room, but it was CC who spoke up and said, "I actually got that joke before you spelled it out for us."

"Gold star for you, then, CC." Pause, and then Mr. Treble said brightly, "Oh, wait, just kidding!" CC's next words were drowned out by the bell, and Mr. Treble waved at the class as they simultaneously stood up and began to shove their way to the door. "Have fun, kids! See you all tomorrow, bright and early!"

Lestia merely ducked her head instead of responding and went out the door, stopping a little ways down in the hallway to check her schedule. CC, James and Ray joined her a few moments later.

"Class begins at eight-twenty, and that is hardly early," Ray muttered, squinting at the sheet in his hands. His glasses threatened to slip down his nose, as he looked up again. "It seems I have calculus first."

"So do I," Lestia said, looking at the room number. "In room 2-C?"

"Yes. Shall we walk together?"

"What a gentleman," CC butted in loudly before Lestia could agree, and Ray rolled his eyes while Lestia bit her lip and tried not to shrink into herself at the sudden noise. "I have chem first, so I guess I'm leaving you all here. What about you, James?"

"Language – I'm going to try my hand at Sinnohan this year - which means I go right back to Mr. Treble's room, aha." James shook his head. "It's a shame we're not all in the same class."

"Cheer up, we can all do the phy-ed requirements together after school," CC said, and Lestia smiled slightly at that. CC grinned back, violet eyes gleaming, and said, "Anyway, how about we all meet up at the cafeteria after second hour?"

"Sounds good to me," James said with a smile. Ray also nodded his assent, and Lestia was pretty sure if she said anything she would stutter, so she stayed quiet.

CC's grin brightened and she made a shooing motion with her hand. "Go on, then, you two, have fun in math!

" _Je ne te comprends pas quelquefois_ ," Ray said to CC, as Lestia flushed this time, before he turned to her. "Shall we go?"

"Sure," she whispered, and she felt a bit better when Ray gave her a soft smile, waiting for her to catch up to him before they began the walk to the nearest staircase.

* * *

 _LATE MORNING: Homeroom_

Athena wasn't the only one who thought to stay back to ask Trebs a question – a face she knew very well was here too, for the same reasons as her. She gave Alucard the slightest nod, one that he returned silently, before turning towards the teacher watching them from the front.

"Trebs," Athena greeted, more as a formality than anything else.

"Klymene," the teacher responded, nodding his head, green eyes intent on her silver ones. "What do you need?"

"Why have the rules changed this year?" He raised an eyebrow, and she clarified, "For the stars."

Trebs frowned at the question, and he tapped his foot on the ground and hummed a bit to himself. Athena had forgotten how much she towered over him, and how he never seemed intimidated by her no matter what she did. Probably, she mused, because he was a graduate of Ossos and could thus beat her Pokémon to the ground with his own without breaking a sweat.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Trebs said at last, still frowning. "I really do wish I could answer that question, since I've been asking it myself since the decision was made at the teacher's meeting last week."

"Does anyone know?" Alucard asked, in a near monotone as always. He was seated on one of the front-row desks, head resting on a hand shoved through unruly black hair. "Or is it just administration again?"

"The latter, I'm afraid. I'm sorry I can't help anymore, you two. There's only so much digging us teachers can do before the principal gets suspicious."

"Right," Athena said with a sigh; _the principal again, I should have known_. Alucard echoed it, before he slid off of the desk and Athena gave Trebs a nod. "Sorry to bother you, sir. We'll be going on to class now."

"Passing time is almost over, so be quick, you two. I'll see you later, Date, and take care of yourself, Klymene."

"Of course, Trebs," Alucard said with a slight nod, and he and Athena filed out of the classroom. They already had memorized their schedules and knew that they had almost the exact same classes, the first being bio; and if that had something to do with the fact that they had personally talked to the school's secretary, well, no one had to know.

"What do you think of the rules?" Athena asked as they walked along.

"Unnecessary. Also a bit of a stretch." Alucard touched his hand to the three stars on his collar. "Wonder what brought it about."

"If Trebs doesn't know, we're going to have our work cut out for us," Athena mused, glancing sideways at her friend. He looked painfully neutral as always, one eye hidden behind an eyepatch, the other gently flickering about, taking in his surroundings – but she knew his mind was working behind that calm exterior, that he was just as curious as she was. "Think you know where to start?"

"Battle moderator," Alucard said instantly. That was her thought as well, and it came as no surprise to her that they were not only on the same page but the same line. "Tonight is the time to ask them, whoever they'll be."

"After midnight, then, when the crowd's clearing out." Alucard nodded, and Athena asked, "We still on for doubles?"

Alucard gave her a small smile, genuine warmth blooming across his face for just a moment, his single crimson eye intent on hers. "Naturally."

With that, they continued on in silence, other students giving them a wide berth as they strode through the hallway. People always found it odd that two of the most silent students typically came alive around each other, but in reality, that had been their bonding moment in the first place, back in freshman year when they had first teamed up for a double battle. They had consistently been in each other's classes since then, year after year, and had never partnered with another person since.

"We'll get your stars back tonight, Alu," Athena said abruptly, firmly, as they entered their shared biology class.

"I know," Alucard answered, and it was easy to see how much faith the two had in each other.

* * *

 _EVENING: Courtyard_

"Seems people are leaving the dorms."

Lester lifted his head from the grass of the courtyard, temporarily shifting his attention from the book in his hands to his friend. Mei was seated ramrod straight underneath the shady canopy of a tree, and was peering into the darkening dusk, a small frown across her elfin face.

"Already?" Lester said, looking back towards his book. The gem at his collar, opposite the side of his stars, pulsed a gentle, serene blue. "It's not even seven."

"Perhaps new students wish to investigate before the evening's events begin." Mei sat back against the tree trunk, finished observing, and folded her hands across her stomach and stared upwards. "Perhaps some veterans wish to ask the moderator about the new rules."

"I'd bet on that," Lester said; "I thought of doing it myself, but I figured Klymene and Date would already be on it."

"I think not," Mei said dismissively, causing Lester to raise an eyebrow. "Knowing them, they will ask after everything is said and done tonight. Wouldn't you agree?"

"This persona does," Lester replied with a delicate shrug, letting his book close and resting it and his hands on his chest. "I have an inkling that my other two personalities would not, however."

"Mm. That is no surprise, as they always agree with each other and not in rationality." Lester cast Mei a sidelong glance, noting her amber eyes were open again and focused on the leaves rustling above them. Her voice was painfully neutral as she added, "Besides, I am used to it by now."

"You didn't have much choice in the past," Lester pointed out, remembering Mei's inexhaustible patience when it came to his other personalities. He could recall every single instance where she had managed to keep him from doing something stupid when not in his calm persona, and every instance where she hadn't; as of yet, the former outweighed the latter. "No one else would partner up with you for double battles."

"On the contrary. I could have easily chosen to taken on double battles by myself, yet you and I would win, without fail, whenever we worked together. Unless against Alucard and Athena, of course." Mei cast him a sharp look, sweeping long black hair over her shoulder to retie the band holding it into a low ponytail. "Consider it a necessary risk."

Lester snorted, and said, "You say such sweet things."

"Perish the thought," Mei said with a ghost of a smile. "You are still, and always will be, a jerk."

Lester gasped, mock-offended. "I'm a jerk only fifty percent of the time, when this personality isn't in control."

"Even when you are calm, you still leave much to be desired – of that I assure you."

"Fair enough," Lester said with a sigh, and then he changed the subject in order to avoid further bashing, because Mei would do so in a flash. "In any case, you are remarkably good at diffusing tense situations when my angry or crazy persona is involved. Perhaps that is why teachers continually attempt to keep us together."

"I have had a lot of practice," she replied, amber eyes glinting, combing thin fingers through ebony hair, "Though I appreciate your words nonetheless."

"If anything, I should be the one thanking you."

"I do not need your thanks, though if it makes you feel better, feel free." Lester rolled his eyes – this was what it was always like when interacting with Mei Huang – and she watched him when he stretched his arms out, his hands brushing against the tree's trunk before pushing himself to his feet. "Are you thinking of joining the masses?"

"Might as well see what's going on." Lester briefly toyed with the idea of changing out of his uniform and decided against it; he wore all black in any case, and the uniform was the same color. No reason to waste more energy trekking back to the dorm, even though he would likely be one of the only people there not in more casual clothes. "Care to join me?"

"I suppose." Lester offered her his hand and, unsurprisingly, she ignored it, getting up on her own power. "There is not much else I could be doing, at any rate."

He hummed noncommittally. "Very generous of you."

Mei gave Lester an appraising look for a few moments. Then she said, with a hint of a smirk, "Who else is going to look after you?"

"Such _trust_ , Huang," Lester said as much false sincerity as he could muster, placing his hand over his heart. "I'm flattered."

Mei shrugged, now smirking outright. "I would not be, but to each his or her own."

Lester grinned, sharp and cutting, as he tucked his book into his bag and they began the walk through the courtyard. "I must admit, my friend: you always know just what to say."

* * *

 _EVENING: Entrance to the Pit_

Ray was feeling decidedly odd as he and his three new friends cautiously made their way to the so-called pit.

On the one hand, the whole idea of battling to maintain rankings was a ridiculous one – some students had come here for breeding or coordinator programs, which required different skillsets and were only offered as electives, and still others did not do battle with their Pokémon and merely kept them as pets. It was highly misleading of Ossos to masquerade as the ideal school when they had a deceptive streak as wide as the mountain range behind the main building.

On the other hand, this was likely where he would find very strong Pokémon trainers. If he ever wanted to prove himself to his parents, this was the place to do so.

" _J'suis un peu anxieuse_ ," CC muttered from next to him, and that was another thing Ray wasn't sure how to feel about, that there was another Kalosian here who was more than willing to speak his native tongue with him. He'd come here to escape Kalos, in a sense; funny how it seemed to find its way right back to him, however innocently.

He smiled kindly at her, noting her nervous tic of twirling her orange hair around a finger. " _Il n'y a pas de sanctions aujourd'hui._ "

" _Oui, je suppose_ ," CC said doubtfully, and then she turned to Lestia on her opposite side and said softly, "How're you doing, Lestia?"

Ray couldn't hear the girl's response, it was so quiet. She really did not deal well with strangers or crowds – she was comfortable with CC, and she had slowly gotten along with James, but she was still skittish around everyone else, even him. During math class, she had stuck close to him but had only managed to voice ten words, and the whole time Ray could see her struggling with herself to get them out. Ray hoped the anxiousness would fade as she got to know him better; he hated it when people were unhappy, especially when he couldn't do anything to fix it except by waiting.

"Hey, Ray," James said, shaking Ray out of his thoughts, and as soon as the brunet knew his friend was listening, he asked, "Isn't that one of our classmates over there?"

Ray followed James's gesture and saw a person hovering nearby the supposed entrance to the pit, fingering the blond braid draped over his shoulder. "Luneth Gates, if I am not mistaken," Ray said, and, as was his prerogative, he turned to the two girls and told them, "James and I are going to go see if Luneth wishes to join us."

"Who?" Ray briefly pointed to where the boy was standing, and CC's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, Lune? He was in my history class. Apparently he likes shopping, too, which is a boon because Arceus knows I need a shopping buddy, even if he hit on me for like ten minutes. He has the worst pick-up lines, let me tell you. – Anyway, I'll come with you two."

"You can flirt with him later, CC," Lestia said before Ray could open his mouth to decline, and he was surprised to see she had regained her voice and was even making a joke – but she had, and she also made eye contact with Ray and gave him a faint smile before looking away and continuing, "Let's wait for James and Ray here. It looks like Lune hasn't made any friends yet, and he'll probably be more comfortable around boys."

"Ugh, _fine_. You're the boss, Lestia." Ray could tell CC was only pretending to be annoyed, and Lestia only stiffened instead of jumping when the redhead threw an arm around the other girl's shoulders. "Go on, then, you two. Protip, though, don't tell him he looks like a girl. It happened in class today and he, uh, he just about blew the whole room into oblivion."

"I will keep that in mind," Ray said, eyebrows raised – she was surely exaggerating, as she was oft to do – but something in her gaze, something hard in her violet eyes, convinced him otherwise. He was therefore spurred on to add, "I will not mention it."

"Good plan," CC replied, grinning, and she made a shooing motion with her hand. "Good luck, too."

Ray nodded, once; then he turned to where James was waiting further ahead. James raised an eyebrow at him and Ray shook his head – CC would not be joining them, no – and then the two of them walked over to where Luneth was standing. The blond watched them approach with an unreadable expression, and for some reason this seemed significant to Ray – especially since immediately afterwards, Luneth's expression broke into a smile.

"I wasn't expecting people to come say hello to a stranger," he said. His voice was deeper than Ray had expected, likely because of his otherwise girlish face – all curves and no hard edges, sloped lines and soft blue eyes. Even his jawline was gentle and relatively undefined. "Then again, both of you are in my homeroom, so maybe not a stranger. James and Ray, correct?"

"Right," Ray asserted. "And CC says you go by Lune?"

"Oh, she remembered! Wonderful. I'll have to make sure to talk about it tomorrow." Lune smiled again, and it seemed a little strained. "Of course, there aren't many other people to talk with in our particular Kalosian history class, but she's quite the girl, isn't she?"

"You seemed pretty social in chemistry," James jumped in, effectively changing the subject - and Ray wondered how many of his friend group had had class with members of their homeroom; he'd seen Lestia, then Josephine Acosta in physics, who had been friendly but relatively distant, and then finally Mei Huang, who he didn't know at all and with his singular attempt to converse with her ending in stony silence.

"Eh, you know how it goes. I don't know any of the other seniors in that class and most are already tight-knit with each other." Lune shrugged, smiling slightly. "Athena and Alucard go way back, and Mei has always been the kind of de facto friend of Lester's. I can talk with them, but they're not going to stick around with me. Doesn't help my other senior friends are in different classes. You'd think with only thirty people in the senior grade I'd get lucky somewhere on A-days, but nope."

There had been so much information packed into those six sentences that Ray took a few seconds to process them. What little he'd known of Athena seemed sharply juxtaposed in comparison to her friendship with Alucard; those two had made it clear they were loners, much as Mei had exuded a 'stay away' aura in biology that day and Lester, while friendly, had maintained a distance from seemingly everyone in homeroom. "Us four are all new," Ray said, once he had gathered his thoughts. "You are welcome to join us if you would like some company."

"That sounds good in theory, but you guys are already paired off. I'm going to have to go hound our other classmate Josephine to see if she's up for some battle fun times." Evidently the confusion was apparent on both his and James's faces, for Lune regarded them curiously. "I guess the principal _was_ pretty vague on what battles were like, huh. You guys want a quick crash course on what to expect?"

"The more information we have, the better," James said with an easy smile, but his hands, folded behind his back, suddenly fisted; Ray quickly realized that James, too, had noticed the almost artificial coat to Lune's words.

"Smart choice," Lune said, and _there,_ Ray could just hear the trace of condescension in the blond's voice. "Well, they're all double battles, and most people grab a partner. That way, when your Pokémon faints, you still have another one to back you up, and so does the other person. Only downside is that you better know your partner really well for it to work. Oh, and you _can_ try to go solo, but only a few can manage that against a bunch of partner pairs."

"I see," Ray said, and then, just to clarify, he asked, "I assume, then, that Athena and Alucard are a double team, as are Mei and Lester."

"Yep. Both pairs go pretty far back, and they're absolute monsters on the battlefield. Best thing you can hope for on a given night is to not go up against either of them, especially Athena and Alucard: they both have Gardevoirs, and since they can communicate with their Gardevoirs and their Gardevoirs can communicate with each other, it's pretty much a four-way telepathic connection that's completely silent." Lune laughed suddenly, delicately holding his hand over his mouth. "Ah, but maybe I should let you see for yourself. It's amazing to watch, and the moderators always like to put them up first to show the newbies."

"I'll take your word for it," James said, eyebrows raised, his voice carefully neutral. Like Ray, however, his friendliness prompted him to ask, "Are you sure you don't want to join us?"

"Positive, though by no means do I not appreciate it, and I may take you up on that offer later, " Lune said with a shake of his head. He was still smiling slightly. "You're both very nice people, but there are no friends in the arena. But hey, good luck to you, and kudos for trying to learn the ropes before the penalties kick in."

That was as clear a dismissal as any, and, exchanging a glance and finding neither had anything else to say, Ray and James turned around to rejoin the girls, who were chatting animatedly about something. At least, CC was – Lestia was listening intently, jumping in at random points. It was clear to see how good of friends they were, despite their polar opposite personalities.

Then Lestia's eyes widened and she pinched her lips tightly together at something CC said, who immediately started laughing, and Ray began wondering again if he'd been wrong. He would have asked James, but the brunet was staring off into the distance, his thoughts clearly elsewhere; Ray supposed he would have to ask the girls themselves if he wanted a straight answer, something he resolved to do later in the week when he found the appropriate time.

"He seemed nice," CC said as they came nearer, breaking off her one-sided discussion with Lestia, who at this point had hidden her face in her hands.

"He was, to a point," Ray answered after glancing over at James, who did not seem inclined to respond. "Apparently, all battles here are double battles, and people tend to partner up so they have a better advantage over those without."

"Well, that's easy, then." CC turned to Lestia, and Ray could already guess at the inevitable question – but instead, she surprised them all as she said, "Alrighty, Lestia, you and Ray partner up, and I'll go with James."

"Wh – what?" Lestia sputtered, looking mortified. Ray figured it was leftover embarrassment from her discussion with CC, but he didn't find it as amusing as the girl in question, who was cracking up.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" James asked, eyebrows raised – the subtle, kind way of questioning CC's executive decision.

"Would it surprise you if I said yes?" CC said, waggling her eyebrows, and then she jumped into an explanation: "In terms of type advantage, Lestia and I are stacked on flying-types, so it'd be pretty bad if our opponent had a rock- or electric-type. I'm guessing neither of you have just flying-types, so it'd be better if you guys went with us so we're not doomed." CC spread out her arms, grinning. "See, I thought about it!"

"And what if we did have flying-types?" Ray challenged, but he was already swayed; she was right, and besides, he really didn't want to cause his two friends any losses because of something as easily avoidable as type disadvantage.

"Then I guess we'd've been screwed," CC said with a shrug while Lestia made a small pained noise. "But you don't, so we're fine! At least, I hope we're fine." She studied them both for a moment. "... We _are_ fine, right?"

"Lucky for you, we are," James said, and he and Ray exchanged rueful glances. Between the two of them, they had covered water, grass, and fire, along with psychic; perhaps they could partner up another time, and when Ray nodded, James turned back and agreed, "Let's try CC's idea for tonight."

"Yes!" CC cheered.

"Um, but won't it be hard because we don't really know each other?" Lestia said, quietly, but just loud enough that it got everyone's attention. "I only really know CC, so maybe it would be better if I just, um, stuck with her. N-no offense!" she added hastily, looking at Ray, and he gave a nod of understanding because he did get that she was uncomfortable. If he was being honest, he was too, a little bit.

"Aww, Lestia, Ray's nice! He won't bite." CC gave him a glare that told him exactly what she would do to him if he did. Ray didn't flinch, and Lestia merely cringed. "C'mon, just try it for one night. Please? It's the first day, and it's okay if we mess up!"

Lestia still looked troubled, but at CC's words, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Ray could tell she was counting to ten before she exhaled and inhaled again, and once she had done so three times, her gray eyes were clear and she gave a small nod.

"Great!" CC said, clapping her hands. "Then it's settled!"

" _T'es sûr que c'est une bonne idée_?" Ray asked her, eyebrows knit in concern and ignoring how James and Lestia kind of just looked at him, knowing he was talking behind their backs. (Or in front of their backs, he supposed.) " _Lestia_ a _dit qu'elle n'est pas vraiment à l'aise avec moi_."

CC merely grinned at him. "Relax, bro. Lestia's a beast in battle. _Et en plus, elle veut être ton amie, elle est seulement peur que tu vas, je ne sais pas, lui dire que tu détestes ses cheuveux ou quelque chose._ "

"CC," Lestia protested weakly - it took Ray a few moments to note she was probably reacting to the first part of CC's sentence, not the Kalosian part (thank Arcues) - but her friend merely bumped shoulders with her and, despite herself, Lestia chuckled, albeit quietly.

"All the better for us, then," James said with a grin. "Winning sounds like a good thing right about now."

"Exactly," CC said, "Which means, mister Clemmer, we should start discussing strategy and figure out how to make things work as best we can."

Ray looked at Lestia as CC consequently began her campaign of questioning James about everything under the sun, from his Pokémon's abilities to his favorite move. Her gray eyes met his with a shy little smile, and then, since he wasn't as nitpicky as CC, he started with "So what Pokémon do you have?"

"Oh, um, I have a Togekiss and an Aerodactyl." She tucked a loose strand of black hair behind her ear, and her voice, while small, didn't sound afraid. CC had been right, Ray supposed; Lestia didn't mean to be so hesitant with him, but he supposed that was just how it was to be painfully shy. "How, um, how about you?"

"Meowstic and Houndoom." Hm. This could actually work relatively well, if they played their cards right. Togekisses as Pokémon had a lot of tricks up their metaphorical sleeves, and Aerodactyls brought both speed and power to the table as well. Paired with his own Pokémon, they could get something pretty good. "I have never actually worked together with someone else before, so I apologize in advance if anything goes wrong."

"N-no, I'm sure we'll be fine. It's the first night, like CC said. We have time to develop a system." She paused, and then she said very hesitantly, very quietly, and very much full of doubt as if he might refuse, "Maybe we should let out Pokémon out so they can, um, meet each other."

Ray thanked his lucky stars that his friends had thought come early to the pit, as he agreed, "That sounds like a good idea," and Lestia's face bloomed into a relieved smile.

* * *

 _NIGHT: The Pit_

The first battle of the night, of course, put Alucard and his partner against Mei and Lester. An exchanged glance with Athena, silver eyes flashing, revealed she was thinking the same thing as he was: the school was pitting the powerhouses together so the newbies knew what they were getting into.

As they always had done since they'd first partnered up, he and Athena sent out their Gardevoirs first, who acknowledged each other with serene nods, connecting their minds, before glancing back to listen to their trainers' thoughts.

 _Fast and furious,_ Athena thought to Alucard, and he nodded; that was the only way to take Mei and Lester down in the end. Their Pokémon were faster and much more nimble in general, and Lester's unpredictable, highly variant fighting styles didn't allow for effective adjusting on the fly. They had to work quickly, and they had to hit hard.

Mei and Lester started with her Arcanine, Kuro, and his Rapidash, upon seeing Athena and Alucard's choice. The crowd around them roared as the Pokémon squared off, the Gardevoirs linked up securely to each other and both trainers' minds, and Mei and Lester spoke to each other in quick shorthand, giving sharp, succinct orders to their Pokémon as they did so.

 _Gardevoir protects, Kaguya strikes_ , Alucard thought, referring to his Pokémon's nickname for clarity's sake, and Athena and their Pokémon acknowledged the command with a nod as the battle moderator declared, "Begin!"

Both Kuro and Lester's Rapidash opened immediately with Agility, as they always did – anticipating this, Alucard heard Athena whisper orders in their connected minds, and her Gardevoir closed her eyes, creating copies of herself with Double Team, as Kaguya glided forward, her steps silent on the solid dirt floor. They had a five-second window to do as much damage as they could, and Kaguya delivered by lifting the hapless Rapidash in the air – and then smashing Lester's Pokémon into Kuro and even further, ramming them into the wall with enough force to shake the building's structure, with a powerful Psychic attack.

 _Well done_ , Alucard thought to Kaguya, who accepted the compliment with a cool, affectionate response before disappearing into the army of Gardevoirs Athena's Pokémon had summoned with Double Team. As strong as the blow had been, Kaguya's attacks were not as powerful as Gardevoir's, and with the proper cover now available, Athena whispered to her Pokémon to get ready.

Both the Arcanine and the Rapidash were quick to recover – no surprise, considering who their trainers were – and Mei shouted out a quick command while Lester merely made a hand gesture. His Rapidash inhaled, reared on her back legs, and launched several Flamethrower attacks in quick succession at as many clones as she could, hoping to find the real two Gardevoirs in the mix. While Rapidash did this, Kuro charged in looking for those that didn't burn away, flames wrapped around its fur like a cloak in a Flame Charge, and Kaguya did her best to debilitate him with Thunderbolts and Magical Leaves.

While she was doing this, Athena's Gardevoir had teleported into the crowd itself, hiding in plain sight as she charged up a Hyper Beam. Students around her edged away as the light grew, and both Mei and Lester noticed at the same time when Gardevoir vanished. Immediately thereafter, Mei barked out another order while Lester let his Rapidash continue its relentless assault on the clones, and Alucard watched as Kaguya neatly intercepted the Arcanine attempting to return to the Rapidash with another Psychic, throwing him high into the air and letting him plummet to the ground.

In doing so, she left herself open for a Flamethrower, however – and Kaguya took one with a shriek, as Athena's Gardevoir launched a full-blown Hyper Beam point-blank into the Rapidash's side. Athena's Gardevoir staggered afterwards, momentarily winded, as Lester's Rapidash struggled to remain upright, and Kaguya quickly summoned one last Thunderbolt, downing the flaming horse for good – once again leaving her open, something Kuro took advantage of as he landed square on his feet and closed in on Kaguya, teeth snapping down onto her in a powerful Crunch attack.

 _I'm sorry,_ Alucard thought, and Kaguya sent a wave of understanding in his direction before she became limp in the Arcanine's jaws, which then dropped her. Alucard returned her, touched her Pokéball to his forehead, and then replaced it at his waist as Athena's Gardevoir, recovered now, Teleported back in front of her trainer, narrowly avoiding another of Kuro's Crunch attacks. The Arcanine didn't so much as miss a step as it pivoted neatly on its back paws, facing its opponents with a snarl as Lester, too, returned his unconscious Pokémon.

The yelling and screaming around them intensified when Alucard sent out his Blaziken, Asura, and Lester his Zebstrika. Battles with veteran seniors often were finished in minutes, but the fight had only been thirty seconds in before two Pokémon had dropped; it was natural that students were excited to see what happened next.

"Get the Arcanine when you can," Athena said; Arcanine's Crunch had always been the primary danger, something they had not forgotten, and Kaguya had been unfortunate enough fall victim to the attack. She went on, "Wait for Gardevoir to draw Kuro out, but take out Lester's Pokémon if there's an opportunity."

"Right." Asura similarly let out a grunt of acknowledgement, and Alucard watched as Athena's Gardevoir began Teleporting all around Arcanine, stabbing at it with Shadow Balls before vanishing into the crowd to hide, while Lester's Zebstrika focused his attention on Asura, practically a blur as it zipped forward, crackling with electricity: Wild Charge.

"Take the attack, counter with Blaze Kick, then Swords Dance," Alucard said quietly, and Asura squared himself, crossing his arms in front of his face as Zebstrika plowed into him. Asura had been through training worse than electricity crackling through his feathers, however, and he did as Alucard said, bringing up a powerful leg against the Zebstrika's side and sending him flying to the side. The Zebstrika managed to find his footing and skidded to a halt, kicking up a screen of dirt as Asura then performed Swords Dance – and without Alucard's command, Asura swung its leg out into another Blaze Kick, anticipating the Zebstrika's near-invisible lunge forward, and it missed as the Zebstrika veered off to the side to dodge.

"Here," Alucard heard Athena said from somewhere, and then her Gardevoir, somewhere in the crowd, was lifting the Zebstrika in a Psychic, preventing it from moving. Alucard had a window of opportunity that would last for only seconds – Kuro now had the chance to get Asura off of the Zebstrika's back, and it seemed he was intent on doing so. But it was not to be, as Asura surged forward with one last Blaze Kick, slamming solidly into the Zebstrika with enough force to send it crashing into the wall.

And then there was a surprised shriek, as Kuro leapt up into the bleachers and clamped his jaws around Athena's Gardevoir, who struggled momentarily before going slack between his teeth. Mei hadn't gone for Zebstrika at all; instead, during both Alucard and Athena's distraction, she had located Gardevoir and directed Kuro towards it. _Clever_ , Alucard thought, berating himself for not noticing it sooner. He'd been so intent on destroying the Zebstrika he hadn't been looking; and neither, evidently, had Athena.

"You did well," Athena murmured as she returned her Gardevoir, and she pressed the Pokéball to her lips for just a moment before taking out her next Pokémon and sending it out without a word. Her Nidoqueen was probably most at home in this battlefield out of their four Pokémon, and she let out a roar as Mei sent out her second Pokémon to cover for Lester, a fearsome Salamence whose responded with her own.

It would be trickier now. Mei and Lester had never been perfect working together, and were often rendered to one-on-two; but once they were, either one of them was fearsome. For all that Ossos seemed to encourage teamwork, as seen between Alucard and Athena, it would be more than false to say each person here wasn't a trainer in their own right.

"Piggyback time," Alucard muttered, and Athena grinned ferociously, eyes intent on the battlefield. She knew what that meant; it was a newer plan they had just recently developed, and now all they had to do was execute it. They were only willing to do so since today there were no penalties; there was a plethora of ways this could go wrong, and only one way this could go right.

Mei said something that was lost in the sheer volume of the crowd, as did Athena, and Alucard simply told Asura, "Get on the Salamence's back with Acrobatics when you can." He trusted his Pokémon to understand the rest.

Both he and Athena knew that Mei's Salamence would open with Earthquake, a move that would wipe out both Asura and Nidoqueen; to work around it, they had drilled their Pokémon to learn some new moves and to practice something a little different. Thus, Mei's brows knitted in confusion when, as her Arcanine used Agility to hide in the bleachers while Salamence roared and slammed its feet onto the ground, Asura darted behind Nidoqueen, who then cast Protect – and as soon as the Earthquake passed, Asura used Athena's Nidoqueen as a platform for Acrobatics, flipping onto Salamence's back and ramming down into her hard enough to make her legs buckle from underneath her.

Once that was done, Nidoqueen then used Earthquake – and Salamence inevitably pumped her wings to get off of the ground and thus avoid it. Asura, still on her back, likewise enjoyed this benefit. Mei's Arcanine, weakened and having jumped back to the ground from the bleachers to launch an immediate follow-up attack, was not so lucky. Alucard watched with satisfaction as the Arcanine collapsed, and Mei clicked her tongue in annoyance as she returned the Pokémon to its Pokéball while Salamence flew about, attempting to dislodge Asura from her back by slamming him into the ceiling, into walls, whatever she could manage.

"I don't think so," Alucard heard Athena breath, and then yelled, "Asura, jump!" which the Blaziken did without question, despite her not being his trainer. A moment later, a solid clump of disgusting sludge splattered into Salamence, who took the attack in stride and instead dove right to Asura was landing.

"Dodge if you can," Alucard called, knowing it was pointless. Asura gave it a valiant attempt, lunging to the side as soon as he hit and rolled on the ground, but unfortunately took the Fly attack head-on; he fell, unconscious, as Salamence hissed, backing off of the Blaziken and attempting to shake off the poison coating her skin. Alucard then returned his Pokémon, briefly pressing the Pokéball to his forehead as before, and then stepped back; it was up to Athena now, and he was already confident she would win.

Still, Athena milked the situation for all it was worth; she waited until the Salamence readied another Earthquake attack, for her to just begin rearing up on her back feet, before her Pokémon struck viciously and quickly. Before Salamence could slam back down, her Nidoqueen landed another Sludge Bomb, charged forward with Thunderbolt, and finally finished off with a Horn Drill, landing it square on the Salamence's chest with enough force the Pokémon tipped onto her back instead of her front.

And, just like that, it was over. The moderator announced their victory, Alucard and Athena high-fived, wearing identical shark grins, as Nidoqueen let out a victorious roar, and the crowd went absolutely ballisti, chanting and booing and yelling all in the same breath.

Mei was gritting her teeth, and Lester reattached his brooch to his collar before fingering one of three stars on his collar, as if knowing anything worse would have resulted in losing it. After Athena returned her Pokémon, all four of them walked towards the center and shook hands like good little students.

"Figures you guys would come up with something new," Lester said, and Alucard was privately relieved to see his gem was shining blue. He found Lester's calm personality the easiest to deal with. "Mei and I are a little rusty; we haven't gotten together since last term."

"Friendless people like you, I bet you met over the summer pretty frequently," Mei said. There was no joking tone to her voice; she was utterly serious, and she was also utterly correct. Neither Athena nor Alucard bothered to confirm her suspicions, given it was fairly obvious, and Mei signed and shook her head. "Congrats. We'll get you one day."

"Keep telling yourself that," Alucard said curtly, and both Mei and Lester gave them brittle smiles before the pair turned and walked off the battlefield and into the bleachers. The student body parted before them despite their loss, and Alucard and Athena went towards a separate set of bleachers, a smaller one close the battlefield that was, at the moment, empty; as the evening wore on, victors will fill its ranks, and then those victors would be pitted against each other.

"Closer to another star for you," Athena pointed out quietly, and Alucard almost didn't hear it over the crowd's noise as the moderator announced the next set of battlers.

"Thank you," Alucard said in return, and Athena gave him a tight smile. Nothing else needed to be said; for them, this kind of stilted, halting conversation was all they needed.

* * *

 **Battles are rough, man - not to mention I made a ton of tiny changes here and there to make it more interesting. Feedback is appreciated so I know what I need to improve upon and such, but please make it more helpful than something like "It was too wordy, make it shorter," "I couldn't see it in my mind," et cetera.**

 **I'm willing to bet that some of you are surprised to see your OCs have friends, particularly those who submitted the tough-and-silent types. Uh, surprise! Friends are pretty great, imo, and everyone should have at least one, also imo. ALSO. Also. I'm going to do something new and ask you to tell me any ships you may have between any two characters as the story goes on. Who knows, it might influence some events later on, depending on each OC's sexuality... you'll have to wait and see.**

 **Okay, but enough of that and onto some more exciting news: class 1-A is now full! Hooray! **

**On the flip side, all new OCs will be delegated to lesser roles. New readers, feel free to submit a teacher (I need a lot of those) or other students - they will be seen sporadically every now and then but won't get a spotlight very often (kind of like the Mr. Treble cameo in this chapter). And please, do keep submitting! I promise all OCs will be used at one point or another, or be mentioned in passing or actually seen interacting with each other/class 1-A members. Form is on my profile and please submit by PM \- thanks much in advance :)**

 **Ask questions if you need any clarification! I am aware I made some pretty awful mistakes last chapter (which have been fixed, so those who didn't notice, you'll never know what happened now) and may have skimped on some details concerning OCs, but please, just give me time. I have to grow into the characters so that the characters grow into their personalities; once I have a better grasp of who they are, I'll be able to describe them better. I really am sorry to all OCs I was a bit sketchy about, and I promise I'll do better in the future. And I also won't grossly misspell names anymore. No, really, I won't.**

* * *

 **Translation of French in this chapter:**

 **Rayne says the following to CC in the first section:** I don't get you sometimes.

 **The first conversation between Cicely and Rayne is translated here:**

CICELY: I'm a little anxious.

RAYNE: There are no penalties today.

CICELY: Yes, I suppose.

 **When Rayne asks Cicely a question:**

RAYNE: Are you sure this is a good idea? [...] Lestia _did_ just say she's not comfortable with me.

CICELY: (Relax, bro. Lestia's a beast in battle.) Besides, she really does want to be your friend, she's just afraid you'll, I don't know, say you hate her hair or something.

* * *

 **Credits go where credits are due. In order of appearance** **:**

LESTIA WHYTOO **belongs to** Tisuro **.**

JAMES CLEMMER **belongs to** ThatGreenPlumber **.**

CICELY WEISS **belongs to** Legacy918 **.**

RAYNE ZIMMERMAN **belongs to** ShadeZyro **.**

BRYAN TREBLE **belongs to** Snowsheba **.**

JOSEPHINE ACOSTA **belongs to** unleash-hell-little-one **.**

ATHENA KLYMENE **belongs to** NemoTheSurvivor **.**

ALUCARD DATE **belongs to** DeathTheManiac **.**

MEI HUANG **belongs to** xSakura-Dango **.**

LESTER DAWSON **belongs to** WereDragon EX **.**

LUNETH GATES **belongs to** Apostle Of Regeneration **.**


	4. 3 - Turnabout

**Chapter 3, or Turnabout.**

 **As always, the OC submission form is on the bottom of my profile page, and you can put it in a PM and send it along to me. Thanks much!**

 **(pssst, I need teacher OCs if you feel so inclined!)**

* * *

 _Tuesday, September 4_ _th_ _  
Day 2  
MORNING: Homeroom_

"Aren't you all chipper this morning," Mr. Treble said with false cheer as the class filed silently into homeroom. He was seated on his desk with his legs folded, chin parked onto his hand, elbow resting on the table's surface, and his green eyes flicked from face to face, likely assessing their mood or something. Lune wasn't about to question it. "Is it safe to ask how last evening went?"

Lune watched as James glanced over at CC. She was pointedly not looking at him, and both Ray and Lestia were casting worried looks between the two and each other. A smirk twitched his lips, but he quickly forced his expression into a neutral one.

"If it isn't, too bad," Mr. Trebs said cheerfully, clearly not missing the exchange. "Since I want this class to win the reward this year, we're going to be keeping track of wins and losses on the board – for all of my classes to see, by the way, since pressure usually makes Ossos students perform better. You're all seniors, so I hope you'll set a good example for the underclassmen in my history class!"

Mr. Trebs then proceeded to question each student about the previous evening. Lune reported his and Josephine's results dutifully, and by the end of the whole thing, one side of the board had a neat column of names in alphabetical order followed by each student's current record.

Athena: 4 wins; 0 losses  
Alucard: 4 wins; 0 losses  
Cicely: 0 wins; 4 losses  
James: 0 win; 4 losses  
Josephine: 4 wins; 0 loss  
Lester: 3 wins; 1 loss  
Lestia: 2 wins; 2 losses  
Lune: 4 wins; 0 loss  
Mei: 3 wins; 1 loss  
Ray: 2 wins; 2 losses

"I see the transfer kiddos had some trouble," Mr. Trebs said once the board was completed, giving two of said kiddos a sidelong glance. "Any particular reason for your number of losses, CC, James?"

"Shoddy teamwork," CC muttered, slouching into her seat, crossing her arms. James folded his hands on his desk and watched his fingers flex and move as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Lune tried not to snicker and ended up having to disguise it as a cough.

"Teamwork issues?" Neither kiddo elaborated anymore, so the teacher shook his head. "I suppose that's a given, considering you didn't know each other until that morning." Mr. Trebs looked at Ray as CC muttered something else – something rude, Lune was sure, if Ray's change in expression was anything to go by. "I see you and Lestia had some better luck."

"A fluke, I am afraid to say," Ray answered, and Lune resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The boy wore humility like a cloak, and it was tremendously dumb; how did he expect to advance in Ossos with a mentality like that? "We went up against two pairs of partners who had never met each other before."

"You shouldn't pass up any opportunities like that if they come your way," Mr. Trebs said, flapping a dismissive hand, "And as Lune is trying to convey, selling yourself short isn't a good thing to do around here."

"Hey!" Lune protested. He hadn't exactly been trying to hide his thoughts on the matter, but that was no reason for the teacher to call him out on it. Not that it mattered; no one paid him the least bit attention. Maybe that was even worse.

"Although, speaking of Lune," Mr. Trebs went on, ignoring the blond's outburst entirely, "I see you and Josephine managed a few tidy wins last night. I'm surprised; you didn't seem to be friends."

"It was more of a necessary partnership," Josephine answered before Lune could, and he shot her a crooked grin that she returned. He hadn't been expecting much of anything when he'd asked her to team up; now he wouldn't think of partnering up with his kind-of-not-really friend Gefahr from class 1-B ever again. "We were lucky that it worked out so exceptionally."

"And, of course, we get along swimmingly," Lune added, to which Josephine snorted and most other students, excepting both Athena and Alucard (of course), gave them curious looks. Arceus. His sarcasm was lost on these people.

"I'm sure," Mr. Trebs said, in that enigmatic way that made it impossible to tell if he was being flippant or not. "Well, I suppose that it's fairly obvious that I expect better results this evening. We need to get you all to Fives by the end of the year, and so far, it doesn't look promising."

CC slouched even further into her chair, and James still wouldn't look up. Ray and Lestia continued to watch their friends, concern knitting their brows – and Lune once again tried not to laugh or otherwise show his amusement. A brand-new friend group like theirs would be easy to split apart, and it would certainly be comical to watch them dance around the topic for the next few days. Though perhaps it was only him who thought that way.

"Well, now we have thirty minutes to shoot the breeze," Mr. Trebs said, "So let's talk strategy, huh? Klymene, Date, I expect you to give at least a few pointers, and the rest of you, pay attention. As much as you probably all hate each other, we're all a team, and there are far too many potential Ones or Nothings for my tastes. Athena, if you will."

Athena let out a sigh, tapping her fingers upon her desk. As she always did, she took some time to herself to deliberate an answer – but before her mouth even opened, a voice cut through the silence.

"What are Nothings?"

Lune was startled to discover that it was Lestia who asked the question – quiet, shy, nervous Lestia, who never seemed to be able to speak for herself and was never seen without the company of a friend if she could help it. He didn't have any A-day classes with her, but watching her in homeroom was enough to tell him at least that much.

"People without stars," Mr. Trebs explained.

Lestia's gray eyes widened, marginally. "You can have, um, no stars at all?"

"Yep," the teacher confirmed, and then added, "Trust me, it sucks."

"Don't tell me _you_ were a Nothing once, Mr. Trebs," Lune said, amused. The man sounded like he was speaking from experience.

"No," his teacher replied, and he added, "But my sister was."

Lune's smile immediately dropped off of his face. The joking atmosphere was gone, and he said quietly, "Oh."

Mr. Trebs shot him a humorless smile before looking towards the class as a whole. "Do any veterans here know what it's like? I see some nods. Let's talk about that first instead of strategy then."

No one said anything for the first few seconds. Lune had quite a bit to contribute, but he wasn't about to be the first to stick his neck out there: Mr. Trebs had a look on his face that meant either he would bite someone's head off or would pet their hair and tell them it was all right. He wasn't about to try his luck.

"No meals," Athena said suddenly, and Lune almost broke his neck when he whipped his head around to look at her. She never spoke unless absolutely necessary, and he certainly hadn't thought she'd be the first one to do so. "No school supplies. No electives, no tutoring program. No blankets, unless your roommate is nice – "

"They take away your blankets?" Lester asked, chin propped onto his hand, a frown across his face. The gem at his collar gleamed soft, deep blue, and his brown eyes were intent on a spot on the wall. "They just send someone in to take it?"

"Your textbooks, too," Alucard said, sharing a look with Athena.

"Hm," Lester said, eyebrows furrowed. "I've been here for years and I've never known that. Most curious."

"I think you mean most terrible," Lune muttered. Several of his classmates hummed their agreement; it wasn't like Lune was new to this school, either, but he hadn't known Ossos would go so far as to take away necessities like blankets and textbooks of all things.

"They take just about everything that could help you succeed," Mei said, shaking her head, black hair flopping with the motion. "It is the threat that keeps people from avoiding the pits, year after year."

Josephine added, "Not to mention they make your life supremely uncomfortable. You still have your personal belongings, but not much else; there is also a possibility you will starve, and even then, the nurse will not see to you."

"Even the _nurse_ won't help you?" Lester asked, now fully aghast.

"Don't they also make it so you can't change your schedule at all? No one in the administration office will talk to you." This much Lune knew, or at the very least he had heard the rumors from friends. Gefahr had been rather forceful about the whole thing when it had happened, when he had taken the only Nothing in his class under his wing last year and essentially forced them into Fivedom. It had been terrifying to watch.

"Usually _no one_ talks to you," Mei said quietly. After her comment, the room was left in silence.

Then, without warning, Mr. Trebs clapped his hands, and the sudden sound caused half of the students to jump. Lune was not among them. "Good to see all y'all know what's going on – ha, y'all. I'm never saying that again – and make sure you don't forget what you've just heard. I'm nice, but I'm not nice enough to help you if you end up at the bottom, even if I want to win quite desperately. Better hope someone else is there to help you out."

There was silence again for a few, brief, terrible moments. Then: "Don't tell me you didn't help your sister?" James asked at last, green eyes wide in horror, asking the question everyone wanted to know. Mr. Trebs grinned before James had even finished speaking, and this time, there was a vicious edge to it; Lune suddenly felt he didn't know the man at all, despite having him supervise his newspaper elective class.

"You can't become successful here without losing yourself a bit, James," the teacher said, eyes flashing; "You'd all be better off remembering that."

* * *

 _NOON: Cafeteria_

"Look, I'm sorry," James said, and for the first time, Cicely could see annoyance twisting his lips into a frown. "I don't know what else I can tell you."

They were eating lunch in the cafeteria – three stars meant exceedingly average food, like sandwiches and the like – and James was trying to apologize for the umpteenth time. Cicely wasn't in the mood for it, and she gave him a stony look over her milk before pointedly looking elsewhere.

"CC," Ray said, only raising an eyebrow when Cicely scowled at him – he wasn't as easily cowed as Lestia was, of course – "Be reasonable. Everything is said and done. There is no point dwelling on it."

"It's a disgrace!" Cicely spat, ignoring how James winced. Part of her was already telling at her to give it up already; the rest of her was clamoring and yelling in anger. She could've lost it all yesterday if there had been penalties, and it wasn't even her fault. "Your idiotic, stupid Vaporeon messed _everything_ up!"

"Stu – it wasn't her fault!" James snapped, slamming a fist on the table – and then he sat back with a sigh, when Ray's hand settled on the other boy's arm. He pinched the bridge of his nose for a few moments, took a couple of breaths; when he spoke, the words came out like a sigh. "It was just bad luck that Dana got confused by that Espeon's Psychic. She didn't intend for that Ice Beam to hit your Emolga. It was an honest accident."

"It happened _two times_ ," Cicely ground out.

"Because our next opponent used Confuse Ray!"

"We lost _two times_ because of the same dumb blunder!"

"And we lost the other two times because we suck at working together, I get it! I already apologized six times!"

" _That doesn't make it better!_ "

"I _know_ it doesn't, but that doesn't mean you have to keep bashing me for everything that happened last night! We both messed up; it wasn't just me!"

" _Two times_ , James!"

"Would you give it a _rest_ , CC?!"

They were standing up and screaming at each other at this point – but no one paid them any heed, chatter and laughter continuing as usual. It was common for pairs to berate each other after battles, it seemed, but Cicely was far too wound up to care in the slightest.

There was a featherlight touch on her shoulder – Lestia, of course. Cicely practically slapped the other girl's hand off, glaring daggers at James, and was startled to find it quickly clamped back on, this time with enough force to hurt as it forced her back into her seat. Across from her, Ray was doing the same with James.

"You're both acting like you've never lost a battle before," Lestia said, and though her voice was soft, there was no hesitation, and there was a sharp edge to her words. "Yelling at each other won't fix anything. You both made mistakes. Stop playing the blame game and grow up."

She was right, of course; Lestia seemed like the kind of person who would be good at mediating. Cicely filed this fact as yet another addition to her _I Don't Care_ list and didn't say anything, turning her head away and letting out an angry harrumph; James, meanwhile, let out a frustrated sigh, combing gloved hands through brown hair, and Lestia and Ray traded exasperated glances.

"Look, um," Lestia tried after a few moments. "Let's just – let's just meet up after school, so we can practice. Okay?"

"Pair up with me," Cicely answered, glancing over at Lestia. Her friend's gray eyes widened, and Cicely went on, "At least I know _you_. I'd do better, at the very least."

"With your current record, that is not difficult."

"Yes, _thanks_ , Ray," Cicely snapped.

"And also, I cannot let you do that," the silver-haired boy continued. "Lestia and I work quite well together, and we have already agreed it would be best if we remained partners for the foreseeable future."

For a few moments, Cicely could only gape at her roommate, who gave her a small, apologetic smile. _Of course it was_ now _that the girl decided to grow a backbone_ , Cicely grumbled, as she closed her mouth, shook her head, and sighed, "Way to throw me under the bus, Lestia."

"This whole arrangement _was_ your idea," James pointed out, and Cicely groaned because he was right and she hated it when people she was mad at were right – but then he went on, "It made sense, and it's obvious that it works, looking at Ray and Lestia. We just... managed to not work together. Somehow."

"Because it was _your Vaporeon_ that – "

Cicely stopped midsentence when James looked her straight on. His eyes were unremarkable, just a general green color, but right now they flickered with undying patience, and he iterated slowly and carefully, "I know that Dana made a mistake. I'll work with her so it won't happen again. Can we move past that now?"

 _Good Arceus, he's trying to_ not _aggravate me further_ , Cicely realized, which was... well, it was really good of him, since all she was doing was trying to egg him on out of her own spite. She felt foolish suddenly – no wonder Lestia and Ray were so impatient. She'd known she was acting like a child, but at least James was acting like one with her; now that he wasn't, she was just being a petulant, moody teenager, butt-hurt over the fact she had lost a few Pokémon battles. Figures she would rush headlong into an argument without anything to really argue about, really.

"... Yes. Sorry," Cicely said at last. James raised an eyebrow, and she had to look away to ignore the spike of irritation in her gut; _you're eighteen, be an adult about this_ , and as soon as she felt she could manage it, she glanced back and met his eyes for a few moments _._ "Lestia's right. Let's meet up after school to practice, so we don't fail horrendously tonight."

Lestia patted her arm, smiling, as Cicely quietly went back to her lunch, staring down at her tray. She could feel James's eyes on her, plain and green and judgmental and patient, but that was all he was going to get; she still had pride, and she wasn't about to apologize yet. It still _was_ more his fault that they had done so badly last night.

" _Merde_ ," she muttered, poking at her sandwich. It was going to be a rough afternoon.

* * *

 _EVENING: The Pits_

"They handle themselves surprisingly well," Lune said from next to her.

Josephine gave the blond boy next to her a sidelong look. She hardly knew him – met him last morning in homeroom, really – and she found his near-constant attempts at small talk a little intimidating. She was more surprised that he wasn't watching each battle like a hawk; he seemed the type who would be constantly strategizing, looking for ways to trip up every enemy he saw.

Then again, she mused, that seemed to be more up Athena and Alucard's alley, and perhaps Lester and Mei's as well. Both pairs of seniors had been tough and unnecessarily ruthless on the battlefield, but then, they always had been. She had stood on these same bleachers for years, surrounding the dirt-covered fields fully save for the protective box that held the battle moderator; she had watched them from afar, saw them struggle with everyone else and then, eventually, emerge as the powerhouses.

"Lestia and Ray, you mean?" Josephine said, in response to Lune's comment. The blond nodded, gesturing almost delicately with his hand.

"Look at the two of them. They are surprisingly in-tune, despite having met yesterday morning."

He pointed to Ray's Houndoom lunging forward towards the opponent's Duosion, then to Lestia's Togekiss as the Pokémon landed a Thunder Wave on the other opponent's Talonflame. As Josephine watched, the Duosion twisted away from the Houndoom's Crunch – only to fall right into the Togekiss's Air Slash. The two Pokémon then fluidly switched spots so Houndoom could land the Crunch attack at last while Togekiss reengaged the struggling Talonflame with a Dazzling Gleam.

"Beautifully executed," Lune remarked. "Rose and Shaun have only been partners since last April, granted, but even so, this sort of result was unexpected. I am very impressed."

"I'm sure the two would be very happy to hear you say that," Josephine said neutrally, half-wishing he would stop talking. Now that he had pointed it out to her, she could see the almost innate connection both pairs seemed to have with each other – and how the two new students, fresh transferals, seemed to be performing better.

Lune raised an eyebrow at her. "Which pair?"

She shrugged. "Both, I suppose."

This made Lune laugh, and, despite herself, a small smile quirked Josephine's lip. Perhaps the blond wasn't so bad, if he could take a joke.

Ray and Lestia continued to skillfully work together – anticipating each other's motions, occasionally looking over to confirm future action, quietly and efficiently commandeering their Pokémon – and Rose and Shaun continued to hold their own. Josephine had never gotten to know them, and she likely wouldn't since they were both in class 1-B and therefore her opponents, but Lune seemed to be good friends with them and made multiple side-comments about their performance. She could only feign interest for so long, though, and soon he lapsed into blessed silence at last.

Still, given Lune's stubborn nature, it wasn't long before he was asking her, "You think we'll be next?" as a tag-team between Togekiss and Houndoom finally took down the Duosion for good, much to the crowd's approval around them. Josephine wished she had brought earplugs.

"Who can say?" she answered. "I just hope we don't have to go against Mei and Lester or Athena and Alucard anytime tonight."

"I bet you jinxed it," Lune said with a frown. He looked about for a few moments, and added, "There's no wood to knock on."

"I didn't take you as the superstitious type, Gates."

"Oh, I'm not. I'm pretty sure they'll put us against class 1-B at some point, or the other senior class."

"1-C?"

"Right. But even with those usual constraints, they don't usually put us again underclassmen just to make things fairer," Lune explained, and then he grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "So, uh, it's kind of very much a possibility that we get put against either monster pair. Because they're also seniors."

"You sure know how to make a girl feel better," Josephine said, eyebrows raised.

Lune froze for a few moments, and then relaxed, laughing slightly to himself. "What can I say, I'm pretty smooth. – Sorry, I thought you were calling me a girl for a minute there. Please don't do that."

Josephine briefly glanced over, giving him an once-over before turning away again. "Eh, you do kind of look effeminate, but there's nothing wrong with that. I never understood why people get pissed when they see boys in dresses, to be honest."

When Lune didn't respond right away, Josephine tore her eyes away from the match and looked over at him proper. He was watching her, blue eyes veiled and unreadable, and she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Problem, Gates? Unless gender is really that important to you and you're about to throw a hissy fit, in which case, go do it somewhere else. I'm not here to babysit you."

After a few more moments of both of them staring at each other, she huffed in amusement and looked at the match again. Ray and Lestia had finally gotten the advantage over Rose and Shaun; it was clear now who would win, and Josephine watched from the corner of her eye as Lune hugged his blue jacket around himself, his hands fisting and straining the crescent moon embroidered on his white gloves.

She could only wonder what was going on in his head, because after her comment, he didn't speak another word.

* * *

 _NIGHT: The Pits_

On the opposite side of the pit, James watched Ray and Lestia win a tidy victory, and was beginning to wonder who was next – until he heard the battle moderator's voice boom through the speakers, "Victors, remove one star from your opponents and place them in the container next to your designated bleachers."

Ray and Lestia exchanged glances – even from here, James could see the uncertainty on both of their faces – but they didn't say anything to each other, instead striding forward to do as they were told. Their opponents didn't look crestfallen, per se, but there was still something miserable about the way they stood, carefully still as Ray and Lestia carefully removed a star pin from their collar and took it with them, dropping it into a small, metal box further past the dirt field.

" _Merde_ ," CC whispered from next to him, sitting close enough that he could hear her; he didn't know what it meant, but he could very well guess.

"I don't get how Mr. Treble expects the whole class to be Fives," James muttered. He could CC was listening, as she tilted her head towards him just a fraction. "You lose a single battle, you lose a star, but then you have to win three battles in a row to win it back."

"A one-to-three ratio. Could be worse," CC replied, her voice similarly soft like his. Around them the crowd had settled somewhat, as the field was slowly cleared and Ray and Lestia took their places on the winners' bleachers. "And if you don't come here at all for a week, you lose a star. It's like poker; you never know what you're going up against, or if you have the right cards for the opponent at all."

James blinked, surprised at the accuracy of her analogy. "You play poker a lot?"

"Not really. I hate leaving things up to chance; better that I dive in and try to win my way." The next set of fighters was announced, probably read straight off from the electronic sign-up sheet they'd filled out on a tablet at the entrance of the pit itself. James breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't hear his or CC's name. "Besides, Arceus knows I'm a terrible liar. My poker face might as well be dead."

"I wonder how it would be if the pit was outdoors," James said, mostly to himself. The pit itself was essentially a big, empty room, swathed in a fine layer of dirt. There were two exits on opposite sides, but other than that, layers upon layers of bleachers circled around the field in the center. James had learned from other seniors in his class that more than one battle could take place in the field, which made sense considering its size, but administration wouldn't do so until the first week was over, just to give all their students a chance to get accustomed to the arena. _Not that one could get accustomed to this at any point in their lives_ , James reflected.

"No one would come when it rained or snowed. And what about thunderstorms? These bleachers are made of steel or something," CC said, and James was grateful that she had decided to if not forgive him then at least humor him. He had lost control earlier in the day because she was just so stubborn and wouldn't see that it wasn't his fault for everything terrible that had happened last night – but now, at least, they were being a bit more mature about it.

Had he heard her vocalize an apology? No, and he hadn't missed that – but at least she wasn't unbearable company anymore, even without Lestia and Ray present.

"Makes you wonder if they control the climate in a room like this," James mused.

"There're enough people to provide a good amount of heat in the winter," CC pointed out. "Who knows what it's like in the summer."

"True. I wonder if – "

" – Since the opposing pair has not stepped up in the designated time frame, they are disqualified," the battle moderator suddenly boomed. The crowd quietened, waiting as they watched the man in the protective box scroll through his electronic list; he was deliberately taking his time, and James held his breath, consciously this time. He had to cough it out as the next words hit him like a punch in the gut: "The next pair is James Clemmer and Cicely Weiss!"

" _Mon nom est pronouncé avec un 'v'!_ " CC shouted as she shot to her feet, and James hurried after her as she stalked to the aisle in the bleachers and began her descent. He and CC had worked a bit together after school, as directed by Ray and Lestia; it surprised him to learn that the more pissed off CC was, the more direct and cold her movements were. If they didn't win their first match-up, he wasn't quite sure what would happen.

Fortunately for them, they weren't up against any of their homeroom classmates – instead, they were faced with a girl with dark-red wavy hair and a tall boy whose green eyes watched him very intently. James felt a trace of optimism do its very best to wiggle its way to his brain – they weren't one of the monster duos, at the very least – but all he could think was _we are so screwed_ on loop. He and CC didn't stand a chance if they had a repeat of yesterday.

"Don't get soft on me now, James," CC said from beside him, casting him a cutting glance that sliced him to the bone. Did he really look so vulnerable? "You think we'll lose and we _will_ lose. Pull yourself together, man."

"R-right." Screwed. They were so, so screwed, and he swallowed. "Sorry. I'm ready."

The opposing pairs, whose names James discovered as Chase and Gefahr thanks to the booming battle moderator, took a page out of Lester and Mei's book and sent out their Pokémon first, a Luxio and Volcarana, respectively. James exchanged glances with CC, and she must've seen the hesitance in his features because she shook her head, her lips thinning into a line, and said tersely, "Get your Serperior, work with me, Clemmer, c'mon."

 _It's just a battle_ , a small part of him said, but he knew that wasn't true, as he sent Majas out into the field and CC sent out her Hawlucha. Arceus, they had type-disadvantage no matter who they sent out, and James could only hope everything worked out as the battle moderator shouted, "Begin!"

"Keep their attention off of me," James heard Gefahr shout, and Chase merely nodded and then – and then –

"Aerial Ace! Hit the Volcarana, Ricochet!"

"Leaf Storm, Majas, distract the Luxio!"

Majas reared backwards, screeching, as Ricochet dove forward, aimed at Gefahr's Volcarana. The fire- and bug-type Pokémon was performing Quiver Dance, as far as James could estimate, and he was startled to find that Chase's Luxio didn't even bother trying to avoid any attacks – quite the opposite. Instead, the electric-type _jumped_ in front of the Volcarana, taking both Richochet's Aerial Ace attack and mostly dodging the Leaf Storm attack. Once it had done so, Luxio snarled, whipped around, and landed a solid Iron Tail onto Ricochet's flank.

James's heart sank. Already things weren't looking good.

"Good job, Kol!" Chase was yelling. "Hit 'em with a Charge Beam!"

"Get out of the way, Ricochet! – James, help!"

"Uh – " _Crap crap crap_ – "Majas, get close and use Substitution!"

Kol was a fast Pokémon, but Majas was faster, slithering forward so quickly he was almost a blur – and then he vanished, replaced by a harmless-looking object that took the Charge Beam attack without much fanfare. Ricochet immediately dove back down, aiming straight at the Volcarana with another Aerial Ace, and was instead repelled by Kol once again. The Volcarana, meanwhile, was still performing Quiver Dance, and James suddenly got very, very worried.

"CC, the Volcarana – it's getting stronger and faster! We have to get it!"

"I'm trying!" CC growled, and then she told him, "Take out the Luxio! It keeps protecting the Volcarana from harm."

"Majas, Leaf Blade!" James said instead of answering, and the Serperior let out another screech, releasing a sharp blade of a leaf and slashing down on Kol. The Luxio howled a response, but already, it was down – the Pokémon wasn't built for endurance, and it has already taken a number of solid, clean hits. Ricochet took this opportunity without being told and finally, _finally_ landed an Aerial Ace, followed up immediately by a Hi Jump Kick, and James cheered as the Volcarana chittered and ceased dancing. Perhaps they weren't as screwed as he thought.

At least he thought as such, until Majas was screaming in pain because the Pokémon had just been set on fire and Chase sent out a mean-looking Granbull who roared a challenge upon being released.

" _Merde,_ " CC muttered again, as Majas put the flames out and, without James's command, blindly struck out with a Dragon Pulse. It hit the Volcarana, but it was just a glancing blow, and then the Granbull chomped down with Ice Fang and James winced, returning the Serperior to his Pokéball and murmuring apologies. "Let's hope this works, Clemmer."

"You and be both, CC," James replied, sending out Dana once again. The Vaporeon landed light on her feet, and before she could gauge the situation, James told her, "Scald the Volcarana when you can – otherwise, Protect now, Aqua Ring when there's time, and Ice Beam the Granbull."

Dana let out a chirp of acknowledgment, as CC's Ricochet screeched and barely avoided an Ice Fang attack, flying violently upwards. The Vaporeon brought up the protective green shield just in time for Volcarana's Giga Drain to bounce harmlessly off of it – and then Hawlucha struck the Granbull with another Hi Jump Kick, miraculously not missing, and Vaporeon lashed out at Volcarana with Scald, so fast that James could hardly keep up. His mind was still scrambling when Gefahr yelled in frustration, returning his Volcarana to its Pokéball, and then Dana dodged a Crunch attack with a grace James had never seen before and retaliated with an Iron Tail. Granbull staggered but remained standing, and then it used Protect as Ricochet attempted to attack it again.

Gefahr sent out a Furret next, as Dana attacked Granbull with Scald. The Pokémon finally went down after she did so, and then James realized that he and CC still had three Pokémon between them, and Gefahr only had one. Maybe they did have a chance after all. Even from here, James could hear Gefahr growl, "McCloud, you're frickin' useless."

"Oh, my _apologies_ ," Chase shot back, "I thought you were just being terrible because our opponent's so damn cute."

"For the last time, he's _not_ my type, and hurry up and distract them or something."

 _He?_ James thought, just as CC shouted, "Ricochet, Hi Jump Kick, again!" and Gefahr shouted, "Quick Attack, Furret, then Slam!"

"Protect," James managed, and Dana brought up the shield again just in the nick of time, allowing the Furret to slam face-first into it. The Pokémon reeled back, disoriented and oblivious to its trainer's shouts, right up until Ricochet kicked down hard enough that it had to hurt both Pokémon. Regardless, Furret somehow slithered out of Ricochet's talons, retreating just far enough before lunging out and Slamming hard into the Hawlucha.

"Ice Beam!" James shouted, even though Dana's aim was terrible and it had never worked before. Maybe, he thought, maybe. They had gotten lucky so far.

And his luck held true, almost: the attack did hit. Not just the Furret, but also Ricochet, and both Pokémon fainted on the spot. CC gave him a peeved look but didn't comment, because it had worked, after all, as the battle moderator announced, "And our victors are James Clemmer and CC Weiss from class 1-A!"

"With a 'v', butthead!" CC shouted, at the same time James said, "Holy _crap_ , CC, we actually _won_."

"Yeah, why don't you just rub it in," Gefahr hissed. He and Chase had already closed the distance between the two groups of trainers, and Gefahr looked _pissed_. Chase looked irritated, but there was also a trace of amusement in her eyes. In any case, the blond across from him scowled at James and said, "Go on, take our stars. Not like it matters or anything."

James didn't move. He could barely think straight, and soon, it was CC's quick hands that picked off the two stars and also shoved him towards the victors' bleachers, where Ray was waving and Lestia was grinning so wide it probably hurt. Dana trailed after him, settling at her master's feet when he continued to sit there with all of his friends jabbering at him and each other, unable to register anything other than profound shock.

Maybe we _can_ do this, James thought, looking over and seeing that CC was glancing at him, and, despite everything, they traded smiles.

* * *

 **Translation of the French in this chapter:**

 **CC swears in the first, second, and fourth instance of French. Take a guess at which one it is.**

 **The next thing she says – if you also couldn't guess – is** "My name is pronounced with a 'v'!"

* * *

 **Okay, so, you're probably like "bro why is this chapter so delayed, I've been waiting for my Skeleton Framework fix for like three weeks (or something idk)" and the answer is this: a) I went on a two-week trip sans Internet, which was relaxing, and b) I bought the Mass Effect series and have basically marathoned all three of them. Then I got Dishonored and played through that. And then I got Metro 2033. And then I got Thief. And then I got Fallout 3. And then Dragon Age: Inquisition, and...**

 **And also I have two part-time jobs, am taking an online course, am cleaning out the house because I'm moving, and basically I am busy as hell. So there's that, too. Be patient with me; I thought I'd have more free time, but nooooooo.**

 **Of course, thanks to everyone who reviewed, goddamn you guys gave me a lot to work with. I appreciate all the compliments and constructive criticism you gave me: it certainly gave me a clear direction of what I need to do, where the story needs to go. No, really, I don't think I can say how much I appreciate your words. Just know that I am very grateful and move on with your lives. Thank you all very much.**

 **Ahem. Onwards to… notes and stuff. Because hello, mistakes are still hoppin'.**

 **If it isn't already obvious, I've never actually played Gen 6 games, which means the whole concept of fairy-types is a huge unknown to me. I know how all the others work, buuuut I conveniently forgot how Gardevoir is – surprise! – a dual psychic- and fairy-type. Which means dark-type moves don't have any effect or something? Since I'm a lazy-ass writer, I'm not going to go back and fix chapter 2 until I feel like it, but from now on I'll write the story so fairy-types are accurately reflected. You're welcome. Also thanks to** NemoTheSurvivor **for pointing that out. You're someone who reads really closely, which could be both a good thing and a bad thing for me.**

 **Also,** Legacy918 **pointed out that having French at the bottom of the page is somewhat inconvenient for all y'all, but I hate to break it to you,** **translating them directly in the fic ruins the flow. You're all stuck with scrolling up and down. Apologies, but that's just a judgment I've made on my part, and also I can't promise there won't be plot-relevant points whenever there's French, sorry sorry. Just the way it's going to be.**

* * *

 **Credits go where credits are due. Not in order of appearance:**

LESTIA WHYTOO **belongs to** Tisuro **.**

JAMES CLEMMER **belongs to** ThatGreenPlumber **.**

CICELY WEISS **belongs to** Legacy918 **.**

RAYNE ZIMMERMAN **belongs to** ShadeZyro **.**

BRYAN TREBLE **belongs to** Snowsheba **.**

JOSEPHINE ACOSTA **belongs to** unleash-hell-little-one **.**

ATHENA KLYMENE **belongs to** NemoTheSurvivor **.**

ALUCARD DATE **belongs to** DeathTheManiac **.**

MEI HUANG **belongs to** xSakura-Dango **.**

LESTER DAWSON **belongs to** WereDragon EX **.**

LUNETH GATES **belongs to** Apostle Of Regeneration **.**

CHASE MCCLOUD **belongs to** ShadedLyht **.**

GEFAHR SENRO **belongs to** Condor-K **.**

ROSE GOODMAN **belongs to** The M.H.T. of R **.**

SHAUN KURO **belongs to** mr. diddles **.**


	5. 4 - Shout

**Chapter 4, or Shout.**

 **As always, the OC submission form is on the bottom of my profile page, and you can put it in a PM and send it along to me. I will be accepting them for the entirety of this story. Thanks much!**

 **(Teacher OCs are always appreciated, even if you've already submitted once before! But only submit twice or I'll be overwhelmed.)**

* * *

 **Just a li'l warning, we're going to be seeing a lot more swearing than usual thanks to one cantankerous character. Be ready.**

* * *

 _Wednesday, September 5_ _th_ _  
Day 3  
MORNING: Homeroom_

"I'm sure you all know today is basically a free day for you all to train your Pokémon," Mr. Treble said, spreading his arms wide and smiling a false grin. Even Athena hadn't known the bit about his sister; now she was cautious, as was the rest of her class, at what other insincerities behind the teacher's otherwise cheerful visage. "If you didn't, bam! Just made your day, I'm sure."

"Every Wednesday is like this?" CC asked, flaming hair curling against her face when she tilted her head.

"Saturday, too, if you want to be a good student. You could always squander the time and go to town if you wanted, but where's the fun in that?"

"So why do we have homeroom, then?"

"Because, dearest Weiss, _someone_ has to keep you on the straight and narrow – that is, remind you of your homework and duties, as well as any fun events that have been planned." The way Mr. Trebs intoned _fun_ indicated quite the opposite, as he continued, "Oh, and of course inform you all that this evening's battles are still on as usual, so don't push your Pokémon too hard unless you have a plan."

There was some grumbling, from transfers and veterans alike. Athena resisted the urge to roll her eyes and checked her watch: thirty minutes left before the bell would ring and she could bolt from her seat like a shot. She hadn't gotten up at five just to sit and listen to Mr. Treble talk.

"Clearly, Klymene tires of my relentless rambling, so consider yourselves prematurely dismissed!" Athena glared at her teacher, who gave her a cheery, sunny smile back, his green eyes sharp and glinting despite so. "Be good, and see you here bright and early tomorrow!"

Some of the students bothered with chorusing "Yes, Mr. Treble" or variations as such as they got up to leave – a few of the transfers, and Lune out of habit from the newspaper elective, likely. She didn't, instead choosing to lithely slip out the door before everyone else, purposefully walking down the hallway towards one of the school's many entrances. She knew without looking that Alucard would be close behind, and so she did not stray or slow her step; not that she needed to, given how empty the hallways were at this time of day.

The morning air was gentle and cool on her skin as she pushed through the door, and she inhaled deeply, her stride stuttering slightly as she did so. For this, at least, she was thankful, as the grass and the trees and the mountains breathed with her; Arceus knew she needed these small pleasures, as a deep ache rolled in her bones, fatigue weighed down on her shoulders, and sluggishness threatened to plague her mind.

She looked down when there was a light touch on her hand, and found Alucard's fingers retreating just as quickly. He hadn't wanted to startle her, and as she looked up, he offered her a small smile, crimson eye knowing.

" _Suimin_ , Athena," he said, making a slight gesture of his head towards the girls' dorms: _go on_. " _Watashi wa_ _anata wo matte imasu_."

She had to give him a weak smile at that, both for what he said and the language he used. For a Sinnohan, a spot-on Hoennese accent was rare; he had perfected it for her, no doubt. " _Iie_ , _anata ni kansha_ , Alucard."

" _Korede ii_?"

" _Hai_." She returned his gesture, moving her fingers to his in a featherlight touch, one that lasted no more than a heartbeat. " _Okizukai wo doumo arigatou gozaimasu_."

Alucard shook his head slightly. His disapproval was palpable, but he wasn't about to bother her about it; he, too, got very little sleep when left alone. Instead, the two of them resumed their journey to the plains and forest beyond, still within school grounds but far enough away that it was isolated. There, they would train, or maybe they would not. Either way, it was to be relaxing, as was every Wednesday since freshmen year, and Athena looked forward to it.

"Klymene, Date, hold up for just a minute!"

Or perhaps she would not, as she turned her head slightly to see Josephine, of all people, running up to her. They had hardly ever interacted outside of the pit, and Athena's eyes narrowed slightly in distrust as she turned to face the approaching girl fully, taking in the mahogany hair, the darker skin, the freckles dusted across her face, the supple build of muscles in her legs; a warrior if there ever was one, but of a quiet type, perhaps the most dangerous.

Athena had never liked her, and she felt Alucard shift behind her as Josephine stopped before them, breathing just a little hard as she flipped her ponytail over her shoulder.

"Sorry to bother you, I know how important Wednesdays are to you both," aha, at least she knew the depth of her transgression, "but – here. Mr. Treble meant to give this to you but it, uh, slipped his mind. So he said."

Athena doubted that explanation, and so did Josephine, if her expression was anything to go by. Nevertheless, Athena reached out and took the flat envelope from her, turning it on its back. Mr. Trebs's jaunty script, spelling out _Athena + Alucard_ , glared back at her, and with no small sense of dread, she gave a slight nod to her classmate.

Josephine made a face back. "Sometimes I can't believe that guy, making me his _runner_ of all things." She sighed, but she wasn't dense; she knew she was intruding, and she quickly turned to go back whence she came. Still, she threw "See you both later, I guess," over her shoulder before she jogged off, going at a considerably slower pace than before.

Athena examined the envelope; despite what she had learned of Mr. Trebs's character yesterday, one could not forget that he was, effectively, her lifeline to what transpired in this school behind the scenes, and this, like so many other hints he had ushered her way, was yet another gift to further her understanding of the Academy itself. There was nothing wrong with it, as far as she could tell, except she had just asked her teacher about news two days ago and he was not usually so quick to find information to share.

"Athena," Alucard said, a soft reminder, and she nodded and turned with him, continuing their journey. Whatever was in the envelope could wait, she decided, at least until she and Alucard had gotten some training in. It wasn't like anything major could happen in the first week back in school.

* * *

 _MIDMORNING: Courtyard_

"James."

"What?"

"Jaaaaaames."

"Whaaaaaat?"

" _Eu te odeio_."

James's head snapped up this time, something Ray noted with no small trace of amusement. "I thought you didn't speak Sinnohan?"

Cicely gave him a slow smirk, sliding the textbook he hadn't noticed he was missing back towards him. "I may have looked that up just now."

She and the others were all gathered in the courtyard, seated under the safety of a tree's shade as they went over their schoolwork. Their Pokémon were out and about, enjoying the sun and getting to know each other, and while the morning was still cool, it was slowly getting warm. Soon, Ray knew, he would have to discard the heavy dark jacket of his uniform in favor of the white shirt and tie underneath; it was going to be a hot day, if nothing else.

Presently Lestia gave a soft huff from next to him, and Ray's eyes unwittingly flitted over to glance at her. She was curled up in a ball, making herself smaller, but she was more at ease than he had ever seen her, fingers playing with her bare toes as she watched her friends bicker. She still wouldn't say much, but it was clear her smoky gray eyes did not miss a thing – including the fact that he was looking over at her, as she met his gaze and sent him a fleeting smile before looking away. They had already finished their homework themselves, last evening; not that either James or CC needed to know, as Ray pretended to be studiously examining his calculus textbook.

"You know, I can't tell if you see me as a friend or not, sometimes."

"We're partners, aren't we?"

"Sure, but honestly, I get the sense we're more like rivals. Like – what did Josephine say? That she and Lune forged a 'necessary partnership' or something?"

"Are you saying that you don't like me?"

James pointed at Cicely with a pen, green eyes narrowed. "That's exactly what I mean. I didn't say anything of the sort, and you just went and drew conclusions anyway."

"He _liiiikes_ me," Cicely said in a sing-song voice, and Ray snorted on a laugh as James let out a long, frustrated groan. The girl grinned widely, and said, "We should go to town on Sunday, speaking of likeable things."

"You are insufferable," James retorted.

"And you're a downer, so fair's fair."

"Am not." James pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers and sighed, "I'm never going to finish my homework at this rate."

They continued squabbling on and on, and Ray couldn't help the warm feeling that fuzzed in his chest. Three days into the school year and already he was sure this friend group would be hard-pressed to separate; a side-effect of having one's school life in the palm of one's hands every evening, he supposed. As if echoing his thoughts, Lestia said quietly from next to him, "I'm glad they're feeling better," and Ray quirked one side of his lips in a half-smile, one the black-haired girl did not miss.

It was... peaceful. Ray could not remember a time when he had felt so at ease, at least, not since he was much younger, feverishly reading deep into the night in the pursuit of knowledge.

Yet, as with most things, the feeling could not last forever. In this case, it was shattered by someone calling out, "Excuse me!" followed by said someone audibly trotting up to them. Ray twisted around to see it was Lune, pale skin and hair contrasting almost violently with the dark black of the school's uniform. In his hands was a tablet, a simple pad of paper, and a pen, and he gave them all what was probably supposed to be a disarming smile.

"Can we help you?" Lestia asked after a pause that spanned two seconds but felt like a millenium.

"Yes, actually – first, CC, are you up for shopping this Sunday, just need to get that out of the way."

"Hell yeah," Cicely responded, grinning; well, at least that was one problem solved, Ray thought ruefully.

"Great! We can finalize details later. – Secondly, can I hit any of you up for an interview? I'm part of the newspaper elective class, and we're supposed to have something cool for Trebs within the week. Which means, uh, talking about the success of our brand-new kids." Lune grimaced. "You'd think he'd wait until next week when class actually starts, but no. Anyway, anyone interested? I'll put a positive spin on it, promise, since I love everyone and all that."

When Ray turned around, everyone was looking at him. _Don't tell me..._ He couldn't be the most interesting person in this group, could he? Apparently yes, as he groaned and said, "Are you all really going to throw me under the bus?"

"It's really not that bad," Lune said with a harried smile. "Five questions, that's it. Four, if you don't want to answer the last one."

"C'mon, Ray," James said coaxingly, "It's either you or Lestia if we're talking about success, and, well..."

"Sorry," Lestia whispered, barely audible, and Ray sighed, already swayed. Lestia could hardly handle answering a near-stranger's questions without losing her voice entirely, and James was also right, to a point: four stars were now nestled at Ray and Lestia's collars, whereas he and Cicely had maintained theirs at three.

"It is all right," he told her, as he neatly shut his textbook and got to his feet, facing Lune fully. "I assume you will want to go somewhere else?"

"If you don't mind," Lune said with a dip of his head. His braid turned with him when he did, and Ray followed silently, leaving his friends and Pokémon behind him.

As soon as they were settled a considerable distance away – well out of earshot, certainly, and hidden under yet another tree – Lune pulled out a tablet and proceeded to busily tap at its screen as he asked, "Is it okay if I record this? Just for accurate transcription later on."

"I would appreciate it if you refrained from doing so, actually."

Lune hadn't apparently considered that Ray would say no, and his fingers stilled on the screen as he looked up, examining Ray with unblinking blue eyes. After a few moments he shrugged, putting the tablet aside and discontinuing the recording program on its screen, and said to Ray while picking up the pen and pad again, "Speak slowly for me, then."

"Of course," Ray said graciously, curious of Lune's brief but quite obvious loss of composure but far too polite to mention it outright.

"Right-o." Lune scribbled something down, and then he looked up again and said, "First question's pretty basic: where are you from?"

"Kalos, if the accent was not a dead giveaway," Ray answered, crisply and primly. "Most of my years there were spent in Lumiose City."

"The same as me, right down to the town. Interesting that I didn't know sooner." Ray raised his eyebrows at that fact ( _he couldn't possibly know, could he?_ ), but Lune merely continued copying down his answer in what appeared to be shorthand as he asked, "Tell me how you met your Pokémon, not too long if you please."

"Certainly. I have a Meowstic named Nyx and a Houndoom named Dante. I met them both when I was relatively young. Nyx I found as an Espurr, tangled in a hedge when traveling with my parents; she joined me when I returned home. A year later, I encountered Dante when he rushed into our backyard, hoping to escape the poachers chasing after him."

"Poachers?" Lune asked, one perfectly-trimmed eyebrow raised but with his eyes still intent on his writing pad.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Ray answered, lifting one shoulder in a half-shrug. "To this day I am unsure as to why they were so intent on capturing him."

"Interesting." Something in Lune's expression told Ray that Lune had registered something within his explanation, and for a moment, sheer dread twisted in Ray's stomach; but instead, it turned to icy relief as Lune simply moved on and said, "Tell me how you met Lestia."

"Why her in particular?" Ray asked, not confused per se but simply seeking confirmation.

"It's fairly obvious, wouldn't you say?" Lune replied, clearly not missing Ray's intentions for a second; his own way of saying _two can play at this game_ , Ray supposed. Still, the blond clarified for him, "She is your partner now, is she not?"

"Yes," Ray said, nodding, before going on, "It is not an exciting story. I made friends with James two days ago, and we both approached Lestia and Cicely afterwards, seeing as no one else besides them seemed to speak at all in homeroom. Afterwards, Cicely thought it prudent to split us into pairs, choosing them on what I would tentatively label as a whim, and here we are."

"Here indeed," Lune agreed. He reached up to shove blond strands behind his ear, his writing hand never stilling for an instant. "Next question. What is your opinion on the ranking system?"

Ray opened his mouth to respond, but the harsh, doubtless inflammatory words died in his throat when Lune's head snapped up and he iterated slowly, "Be very, _very_ careful of what you say here."

There was calculation in Lune's gaze, as Ray gathered his thoughts. Lune's warning was not vague by any means, but it did speak of a hidden truth: Ossos Academy lied, and it would not allow whistleblowers to go unscathed. He would have to consider his words very carefully, should he still wish to transmit disdain in a way subtle enough to avoid retribution.

"It is – unique," Ray said at last, and this answer in particular, he knew, Lune was writing down word-for-word. "It brings out the best in its students, yet also the worst. It teaches us to fight and survive. Whether it is good or bad depends on the student: it is ill-suited for coordinators and breeders, but ideal for to-be trainers, provided one can win their battles." Ray shrugged, quite deliberately. "Beyond that, there is not much else to say."

"Astute," Lune said, though whether the comment meant Ray's opinion or his last statement was unclear. Regardless, Ray nodded, and Lune hesitated slightly before speaking again. "As I said earlier, you don't have to answer the last question if you don't want to."

"Noted."

Lune gave him a crooked grin, and said, "You should probably know that many of your fellow students, underclassmen included, find that you and Lestia would make a good couple, if only based on your battling performance so far. Your thoughts?"

Ray blinked once. Then twice, and then a third time as his brain kicked back into gear. The idea was so ridiculous that he could hardly parse it – _how many ways can I say 'I met her on Monday and she has spoken perhaps fifty words to me in that time?'_ – and his answer, when it came, was very, very calm, to the point of coolness. "I have known her for less than seventy-two hours, and that is being generous, as you would have to include the time spent sleeping and in separate classes. I am not sure what, or when, such conclusions could be drawn."

Ray could have mistaken the quicksilver smile that appeared on Lune's face as his own imagination, were it not for the shift in Lune's shoulders, the sudden change in Lune's blue eyes; something in his answer had reassured the blond, and at once, suspicion grew in his mind. Surely Lune wouldn't harbor... but perhaps it wasn't so unbelievable, Ray thought, she was clever and quiet and sharp as a knife, and he resolved to keep from mentioning this to Lestia as Lune said cheerily, "That's all, then. Thank you, Zimmerman; I appreciate this."

"Of course," Ray said smoothly, giving no indication of his observations. Just as well, though Lune likely would not have noticed anything amiss, at least not right away. "Give Mr. Treble my regards."

"You got it," Lune said with a nod, as he gathered his things and threw a loose salute in his directions. "See you tonight." And, just like that, he dashed off.

Ray watched him go, and shivered as unease ran a hand up his spine; somehow, for no reason he could discern, he felt as though he had made a grave mistake.

* * *

 _NOON: Courtyard_

"Sapphire," Mei said, squeezing her eyes shut as though it could close out the world around her, "I am entirely not in the mood."

"Aww, don't be that way," Sapphire responded, pouting, blue eyes wide; but she must've heard something dangerous in Mei's tone, because she gave a sweet, bubbly laugh before moving off with a perfectly-executed wave, a calculated switch in her step and a careful half-smile on her face. Mei watched her go with no small sense of disgust, lifting on hand to rest it on her forehead and fend off an impending headache.

 _Out of the frying pan,_ she thought, and cast a slight glance around the quiet, light-filled courtyard, _and hopefully there won't be an oven._ To better her odds, she reasoned, she should likely find some new haunts unfettered with any members of the newspaper elective class, for they were out in force as was Trebs' prerogative; more importantly, she ought to find a wide-open space to get some one-on-one with her Pokémon. Shirking her training could mean severe implications later on.

Unfortunately, the oven arrived before she could take even a single step from her position, in the form of one Lester being dragged towards her by – the art teacher, if she wasn't mistaken. Mr. Yent, as she recalled, and the tall, blond man called out to her, "Ms. Huang, a moment, if you please!"

It was bad luck that teachers who hadn't ever had her in class knew her name, but despite that, and despite his outlandish appearance, Mei did like Yent as a person; he had a habit of teaching his students self-defense in the middle of class whenever it struck his fancy. As such, she held back an exasperated sigh and trudged over to where Lester was currently scowling to himself, arms locked into position by Yent's tight grip on his wrists. She could already see the problem from here: rather than a gentle blue, the gem at Lester's collar was glowing a vibrant red.

Fantastic. Of course he would go for his angry personality. Not that his crazy one was any less difficult to deal with, but at the very least, she could've avoided having to manhandle him about. _No rest for the wicked_ , she mused, as she said politely, "Shall I take him off of your hands, Mr. Yent?"

"I really am sorry to throw him upon you with such short notice," the teacher replied, carefully transferring Lester into her care in such a way that he could not suddenly lash out. She made sure to keep a secure grip on Lester's wrists as Yent explained, "However, I thought it a better solution than letting him continue bullying the freshmen."

"I understand," Mei said, shooting Lester a glare that could peel paint. He simply glared back, huffing when she took one of his thumbs and snapped it back, far enough to hurt but not enough to break. "I'll take care of it from here."

"My thanks, Ms. Huang," Yent said, and then he hurried off, likely to attend to aforementioned freshmen cowering not too far away. Mei waited until he was out of earshot before sighing irritably and releasing her hold on Lester, who shook himself free and glowered at her as if it was her fault that he had been so terribly slighted.

"You're unbelievable," she said coldly, because she had learned that it was best to temper Lester's hot anger with icy fury.

"Tell me something new," he grumped back, but he didn't make any move to actually escape her watchful eye. If nothing else, past reflections on how poorly he had succeeded on doing so in the past was likely enough of a deterrent.

"Freshmen, Lester. Really?"

"You should've seen them," he burst out, crossing his arms over his chest, only to clench his hands so tightly his knuckles shone bone-white under his skin. "Thinking they were so fucking _good,_ so fucking _elite_ that they could talk shit about anyone they pleased!"

Ah, yes, the profanity. This was familiar territory.

"Beating people up generally doesn't solve problems," Mei said calmly, taking him by the arm. He didn't shake her off, as she led him away from the courtyard, away from prying eyes.

"Says the girl who could snipe a man's head from however many feet," Lester shot back, which... which was fair, she supposed, if a bit off-topic. "And I wasn't beating them up. Not physically."

"Abuse is abuse no matter how you look at it, Lester – verbal harassment included."

"Fuck you," Lester replied, but there wasn't any heart in it, never had been for the past three years.

"What were you even trying to accomplish? It's not like those kids could do any harm. They were Twos, for Arceus's sake."

"One of them was trying to get some guy to go on a date with him after said guy initially refused," Lester growled, "and believe me, Mei, if you think _I_ was trash-talking, you should've heard what bullshit he was spewing to his cronies."

Mei raised an eyebrow. That did change things up a bit, but, nevertheless, "You're just as bad, considering how you went about showing your displeasure."

"Fuck you," Lester repeated.

"Broken record," Mei retorted.

"Says the pot to the kettle."

She sighed. "Touché." Then she changed the subject. "You notice how no one in our homeroom has dropped below Three yet?" The best way to keep this Lester from wreaking havoc was by distracting him and appealing to, for lack of better word, his intelligence; not that this personality ever thought beyond _screw this screw you screw the world_ , but over the years Mei had determined this to be the most effective course of action nonetheless.

"I'm angry, not stupid," Lester said right on cue. Mei resisted the strong urge to slap her forehead; he was almost irritatingly predictable. "Don't see how the fuck that's relevant, though."

"It's not. Gold star to you," Mei said, her voice heavy with sarcasm, and then she added, "Oh, wait."

"Shut up," Lester grumbled, tearing himself away from her grip. They were well beyond the school building itself, still on its expansive grounds but far enough away that few students were around. Even Lester, in this clouded state, had likely deduced that if he were to start screaming, it would be acceptable at their current location. "Don't tell me you actually think Trebs will succeed at pressuring all of us into fivedom?"

"It's promising so far," Mei pointed out. "Clemmer and Weiss seem to be getting their act together, at least."

"Fuck 'em," Lester said, almost reflexively; "Watching those two makes me sick. Terrible teamwork, like Weiss said; Clemmer freezes up at the first suggestion that something might go wrong, and Weiss has no fucking idea how to get him to unwind. Chase and Gefahr only got their asses handed to them because the Hawlucha landed a crit-hit on the Volcarana."

Mei had noticed that as well, and Lester's observations, while blunt, were not inaccurate. It was fortunate Weiss was not in any nearby vicinity; like many other students, she would likely not take the criticism well. "I am actually surprised on how quickly Gefahr was taken down," she said mildly. "It is unusual for him."

"We both know he was distracted. Clemmer, of all people, to catch his eye," Lester spat. "I almost feel sorry for him."

"Who, Gefahr or Clemmer?"

Lester's eyes narrowed at her. "Don't play coy, Mei."

"Just checking," Mei said airily. "With any luck, Chase'll keep him on the straight and narrow."

"Ha! Straight, my ass." Mei had to admit she snickered at that, though Lester merely swept on, "Chase isn't his friend, she just had no other options. And either way, it doesn't change the fact that Clemmer and Weiss aren't a threat. They're just pathetic."

"Verbal abuse, Lester," Mei reminded him. He threw a punch at her for her trouble, which she dodged nimbly because she had known it would be coming, and then she chided, "Physical abuse, now. There are places to draw the line, you know."

"Typically, you don't joke about that kind of shit," Lester shot back, and, well, he did have a point there.

"Fair enough," Mei answered, and then she arched an eyebrow at him and asked dryly, "Feeling better yet, or do I need to take you to the gym to punch something and actually hit it?"

"This is a personality, Mei, not something you can just change by having me hit things," Lester retorted. "I honestly don't know why you keep trying."

"It would certainly make babysitting you easier," Mei pointed out.

"Fuck you," Lester snarled.

"Take me out to dinner first," Mei replied, straight-faced, "and no, even if you did, that isn't an offer I'll ever take you up on."

"Oh, what's that? You didn't hear what I said? Let me repeat it again: Fuck. You."

"Arceus," Mei muttered, and she quickly found a new topic to talk about before Lester dissolved into a back-and-forth blame game with entirely no purpose. "You learn anything interesting about the new rules here? I've been asking around, but everyone I've talked to has absolutely no idea."

"My calm self's been poking around here and there," Lester responded, immediately distracted, and for once he seemed less inclined to attempt to beat her up (which would have ended in grandiose failure, and he knew it), "but all he's found out is that something's got the principal on edge. Only the best students are going to be... accepted, maybe, for something big. Not sure what."

"We're being sorted by rank?" Mei asked, eyebrows rising slowly. This was mildly disturbing.

"Fuck if I know," Lester responded eloquently, "but. Yes. Apparently. Fives are needed, and they're needed soon."

"Hm." What else could she even say?

"Bet you that Alucard and Athena've already come up with more details, though I'll keep looking," Lester grumbled, forming a fist with one hand and observing it this way and that. Probably deciding where he next wanted to drive it, which was answered as he growled, "Arceus, I want to punch them so fucking bad. Arrogant assholes."

"The Double A's," Mei joked, and that startled a grin out of him. After a few moments, she laughed outright, sharp and cutting. "Perfect. It could be Alucard and Athena, or just Arrogant Assholes. Double A's."

" _Perfect_ ," Lester echoed, his grin widening. "Let's get Lune in on this shit."

"They're going to kill us," Mei commented, trailing after him when he set off at a brisk trot back to the school; but at this point, really, she honestly didn't care. Besides, it wasn't like Athena and Alucard could take on an angry Lester anyway without their precious, precious Pokémon.

* * *

 _AFTERNOON: Forest Clearing_

 _Athena, Alucard –_

 _Afraid I can't say much here, don't know who's watching. Did get some info you might find interesting; talk to Lester later when you can. He learned it on his own, but it's pretty much the same, probably knows more than I do._

 _Principal wants the top students as quickly as possible. Only way to do that fast is to increase battle risks, decrease gains in pit. Expect fights to get nastier. Don't be surprised if students started to physically fight each other and not each other's Pokémon._

 _I said I wanted the class at all Fives, but now? Not so sure. Don't do anything stupid, keep your classmates in line if need be, watch out for the transfer kids. Mostly just be careful._

 _Will talk later if possible. Will write if not. Dispose of this letter regardless._

 _Trebs_

Alucard looked up from the letter to meet Athena's intense gray eyes. There was a storm brewing there; he knew her thoughts were racing as he handed the paper back to her.

"The principal is preparing for something," Athena said, crumpling the paper into a ball and proceeding to rip it into neat, even shreds. She continued to do so until on tiny scraps were left, which she then let float softly to the ground. She wasn't one for littering, but Alucard wasn't about to argue; it was doubtful anyone could ever recover the letter now, even if they searched long and hard for each individual piece.

"War," Alucard hazarded. Athena rolled her eyes, and he shrugged, lips quirking. "Something else major. Has to be."

"Say it _is_ war," Athena said, sitting down on the grass beneath her feet. Alucard did the same directly across from her, and they stared at each other as they deliberated. "What would Ossos be fighting against?"

"The Academy has huge political sway," Alucard commented, noting Athena's slight nod of acknowledgement. "When Kalos first made contact with the other regions, Ossos helped maintain low tensions between them."

"And the same can be said of Unova, yes," Athena said with another nod. "Fair point. Ossos oversaw the basic alliance between _all_ of the regions, though – no enemies were made."

"Factions. Purists," Alucard suggested. "Kalos's Team Flare, perhaps?"

"They've been underground for years," Athena replied, frowning. "Same with the other regions' so-called Teams."

"All the more reason for caution."

"True."

"If Ossos does go to war," Alucard said, effectively switching his and Athena's verbal positions, "Which would pose the biggest issue?"

"Team Rocket, undoubtedly; they're headquartered in both Kanto and Johto, and Ossos was particularly hard on them as a result, considering its placement on the border." Athena absently reached up, twirling blond hair in her fingers. "I still see little cause for concern."

"Point. The principal knows something we don't, then," Alucard concluded.

"We're still not sure if it's war, though."

"Not many other possibilities, Athena."

"Legendary Pokémon to capture. Rebellion to quell, if all Teams unite. World domination. Mass destruction." Athena ticked the list off on her fingers, and then sighed. "Perhaps we're thinking too broadly."

"Impossible," Alucard said flatly. "This is Ossos. There is no such thing as 'thinking too broadly'."

"Point."

"Rival school?" Alucard suggested, going for a different angle.

"Closest school like ours is across an ocean; doubtful." It dawned on them at the same time, but it was Athena who voiced it: "Former students. _Of course_. Who else would the principal be worried about?"

"It's been six years since Ossos has been open. Enough have graduated to be substantial; some must have gotten organized," Alucard mused.

Athena nodded. "The principal isn't stupid, so Ossos got warning in advance. The former students must be planning to retake the school and shut it down."

"Speculation at best, but I'm willing to bet that is it," Alucard agreed. He looked sidelong at her, rather difficult to do since they had been staring at each other straight-on for the past few minutes. "We should ask Lester what he knows."

"Later," Athena said. "We will see him in the pit tonight either way."

"Point."

Though the discussion had already reached its end regardless, they were interrupted by a soft, gentle presence in their minds: their Gardevoirs had returned from wandering the forest contained within the school grounds, having evidently found nothing that interested them. Athena greeted both her own Pokémon and Kaguya while Alucard remained silent, pondering over their shared words.

They had to be ready for whatever came, he knew; and to do that, they had to find out more.

* * *

 **First thing, I don't speak Japanese and have a very weak grasp on formalities and the language itself. I scoured Google Translate and Yahoo! Answers to get what you see in the chapter; Japanese speakers, please correct me immediately if there is an error.**

 **Otherwise, translation of the Japanese:**

ALUCARD: Sleep, Athena. […] I'll wait for you.

ATHENA: No, but thank you, Alucard.

ALUCARD: Are you sure?

ATHENA: Yes. Thank you very much for your concern.

 **Translation of the Portuguese:**

CICELY: I hate you.

* * *

 **I** ** _may_** **have chosen a random number generator and paired two Ocs together (some, of course, were not included in the list), then flipped a coin to decide which OC would develop a crush on the other. Just thought a little out-of-the-blue shipping here and there would be an interesting thing to add on, give some other characters motivation to do certain things. (Although Lune is actually in the newspaper class, mind.)**

 **Plus, I am** ** _very_** **excited to write romance scenes, whenever they may come, but again, not to worry: you can expect a very slow burn to any potential relationships, and I will avoid them if I get disapproval from either owner of the OC. If no disapproval comes my way, then start guessing: I certainly won't make it so obvious next time.**

 **Also in case people missed the word: yes, please, submit a teacher OC even if you've already submitted a student! Only one, though, and keep in mind that I may not use all of them. And, of course, OC submission is always open in general!**

* * *

 **Did you want some DELETED SCENES? No? Well, here's one for this chapter:**

One day she would tell Lune how stupid she thought his name was – how much she detested that he flaunted his namesake almost disgustingly on his clothes, crescents everywhere to symbolize _moon_. One day she would tell Lester how much she hated his personalities and how they would switch without warning; one day she would tell Mei to shove her arrogant attitude to a place where she wouldn't have to look at it. One day she would tell Josephine how much her calm and cool and collected mannerisms reeked of falsities, even if they weren't lies; one day she would tell every single one of the transferals how their naïveté would deserve her pity if they weren't so pathetic.

* * *

 **Credits go where credits are due. In order of appearance:**

BRYAN TREBLE **belongs to** Snowsheba **.**

CICELY WEISS **belongs to** Legacy918 **.**

ATHENA KLYMENE **belongs to** NemoTheSurvivor **.**

ALUCARD DATE **belongs to** DeathTheManiac **.**

JOSEPHINE ACOSTA **belongs to** unleash-hell-little-one **.**

JAMES CLEMMER **belongs to** ThatGreenPlumber **.**

RAYNE ZIMMERMAN **belongs to** ShadeZyro **.**

LESTIA WHYTOO **belongs to** Tisuro **.**

LUNETH GATES **belongs to** Apostle of Regeneration **.**

MEI HUANG **belongs to** xSakura-Dango **.**

SAPPHIRE ARGENT **belongs to** Cottonmouth25 **.**

FERDINAND YENT **belongs to** RavenKat **.**

LESTER DAWSON **belongs to** WereDragon EX **.**


	6. 5 - Recon

**Chapter 5, or Reconnaissance.**

 **As always, the OC submission form is on the bottom of my profile page, and you can put it in a PM and send it along to me. I will be accepting them for the entirety of this story. Thanks much!**

 **(Teacher OCs are always appreciated, even if you've already submitted once before! But only submit twice or I'll be overwhelmed.)**

* * *

 _Thursday, September 6_ _th_ _  
Day 4  
AFTERNOON: Classroom_

"I see you managed to make it here in time, miss McCloud! Not stuck daydreaming on Cloud Nine, hm?"

"That was a terrible joke, Mr. Jester," the blonde replied with a wolfish grin, slipping into her seat.

Mr. Jester chuckled and answered, "Only the best for you, my dear."

"Of that I'm certain, sir."

Mr. Jester laughed, a surprisingly warm sound for a man who looked as tough as he was old, and the bell rang soon after, its shrill tune momentarily deafening anyone within range. James quietly got out his materials for the class as the teacher gave the room an once-over with his eyes, nodding once in satisfaction when all ten desks were occupied.

"I see everyone is ready for history today!" Various noises of assent. "Good, good. Oh, don't worry, Lestia, I don't ever expect a response from you, so you just keep sitting there, okay?" Lestia looked down at her desk, cheeks flushing a furious red, as Mr. Jester continued, "So, today in Johtonese history: Ecruteak City! And the towers, of course, associated with what?"

No one raised their hands right away. Mr. Jester's brown eyes swept across the room, darting from student to student, and James carefully kept his gaze forward, not quite meeting the teacher's glance but also not staring at his desk. In the end it was futile, as Mr. Jester said, "Mr. Clemmer, how about you?"

"Uh," and he _had_ studied this so he did know, thank Arceus, "Suicune and Entei and Raikou… and Ho-oh, I think? Right?"

"Yes indeed, my fine green-gloved friend. Glad to see one of you capable students did your homework!" James ducked his head briefly, pursing his lips – the question had not been particularly hard – as Mr. Jester went on, "And of course what happened to the tower at some point in time? Ms. Huang?"

Mei droned out a perfectly constructed answer about the fire and burning and lightning, possibly, and then Mr. Jester picked on another student for the year that this occurred, and then another student for the first part of the legends about Ho-oh. It went on and on and on, in endless circles and litanies, James answering the questions he was asked but otherwise letting his mind drift away. It wasn't that the class wasn't interesting – it was, especially with Mr. Jester in charge – but anything centuries before the Great War was just... boring. At least for James, but he always made sure to know his stuff before he came in. Appearing flat-footed at this school was asking for trouble.

Abruptly, a phone rang – a cell phone. James knew immediately that the sound had come from the front of the room, not from any of his surrounding classmates, and watched with no small degree of confusion as Mr. Jester, upon reading the caller ID, put the device to his ear.

"Hello, hello," the teacher said cheerfully, and then he proceeded to waltz around the room, effectively keeping all of his students silenced. "Yes, I _did_ indeed hear, dear principal, one would have to be entirely deaf to – oh, really? I see." Pause. "Ferdinand is so _very_ attuned to his art students, as you might recall. I would send them there." Another pause, this one much longer, and James, glancing about the room, knew he wasn't the only one dying with curiosity. "Very well, if you insist. No, no, that is not necessary. I will be _quite_ accommodating."

Lestia caught James's eye from across the room, and tilted her head towards the classroom door. There were no windows into the hallway, but then Lestia mouthed _there's someone there_ and James looked back to the teacher, the conversation suddenly making much more sense.

Presently, Mr. Jester sighed and said reluctantly, "Very well. Yes, goodbye." The phone disappeared into his pocket, and the wizened old man returned to the front of the room, turning to face the class. "I do loathe interruptions, but it seems we will be having one shortly," he said without preamble. "It seems the principal has asked some former students to be – teacher's assistants, I suppose."

"You mean 'supervise', sir," Mei said from her back corner.

"Quite right, my dear, quite right indeed." Mr. Jester made his way to the door, his step surprisingly light despite the seriousness of his tone. "Well, let's see who our principal has sent out way," and when he opened the door, as Lestia had predicted, someone was already there.

She – he? – wasted no time, brushing past Mr. Jester with a whisper of cloth, stepping inside the room with a soft smile, and the way – they, James decided – carried themselves spoke volumes about who they were. An Ossos graduate, without a doubt; likely a skilled coordinator, if the graceful, fluid stride meant anything. Certainly not to be underestimated, as their eyes flicked about the room. James was rather sure they were taking in as many details as they could in the few precious seconds they had at the front.

"Kieran Laishet," they said, tilting their head in an almost birdlike fashion, short brown hair and brown eyes, moving out of Mr. Jester's way as he returned to his place at the front of the room. "A pleasure, I'm sure."

James looked to and from his teacher and Kieran, noting how they immediately went to the back of the room and leaned against the wall, out of sight but not out of mind. Mr. Jester watched them for a few moments, eyes unreadable, and no one in the class dared breathe a word.

"You know, I am somehow not surprised how you found your way back to my class, after all these years," Mr. Jester said at last, shaking his head.

"As if you could keep me away," Kieran answered, but instead of a small smile or any other reaction, their face remained completely, disturbingly blank.

James turned round in his desk, looking down at the notebook on his desk. _Ossos graduate, indeed._

* * *

 _Friday, September 7_ _th_ _  
Day 5  
EARLY MORNING: Cafeteria_

"That's all speculation," Mei said, leaning her elbows on the table around her tray, so that her chin could rest on her folded hands. "All you have is a vague letter from our teacher who may or may not be crazy. What kind of proof is that?"

"It's enough," Athena replied mildly, and Lester resisted the urge to jump into the discussion, instead opting to take another bite of his toast; he was curious to see where this little repartee would go. "There hasn't been any change in the ranking system since the school was founded. Something has the principal on edge."

"Regardless, that is a very big assumption to make," Mei said. "You're drawing conclusions from practically nothing. The principal is known for whimsicality; administration could be up to anything. Former students _could_ be coming to retake the school, fine. I've already seen one here with my own eyes. But what's the likelihood of that? Nothing's stopped them before."

"I don't see you having any brilliant ideas," Athena pointed out. Alucard, sitting next to her, idly reached over and plucked an entire pancake off of her tray. She was so engrossed in the argument that she did not notice, and Alucard began munching on his stolen good while the blonde went on, "Think about it logically. It couldn't be a threat of war – there aren't enough political tensions involving Ossos to come to that. Legendary Pokémon are always on the move nowadays, so it's improbable that the principal's looking for a capture squad."

"You're missing the point, Klymene: it's _still_ all speculation," Mei answered, and Lester inclined his head in agreement. "This is _Ossos_ , not a world superpower. What you're suggesting is, if not impossible, then very, _very_ unlikely."

Athena frowned, twirling her finger through her hair. "I think it's you who's missing the point, Huang."

"If I may," Lester said calmly, sensing that the discussion was now going circular. Athena ceded the floor to him with a nod, and he said, "Beyond the fact that this is the most I have ever heard Athena say in a single sitting – she is not entirely wrong."

Mei turned to him, eyebrows raised in confusion. "You were still in angry persona when I left you at your dormitory last evening, you know. When did you learn more about this?"

"A transition took place an hour or so after you were gone, and I thus did some investigating on my own during the evening battles." Mei nodded – she too had skipped out, once she had realized Lester was absent; this was also the reason the four of them were having an impromptu conference before class – and Lester went on, "Former students are indeed returning to Ossos, presumably before the end of the semester, if I heard the teachers correctly."

"You went eavesdropping," Athena said entirely in deadpan; she was back to her usual manner of speaking, at least.

"Old-school, I am aware. It was surprisingly effective, and it will have to do until someone manages to break into the Academy's computer systems again. Far too much work, and it will be done eventually." Mei huffed in amusement, delicately placing a forkful of pancake into her mouth, as Lester added, "The teacher's lounge has a surprisingly thin door."

"Fine, but what did you learn?" Athena pressed.

"I would tell you if you would let me finish," Lester answered, eyebrows raised. Alucard narrowed his eyes at him, something Lester skillfully ignored. "The students are returning, true – but they're not returning to _attack_. You know how loyal the alumni are."

"So, what, they're returning to help the principal attack everyone else?" Mei balanced her fork between her teeth, eyes thoughtful and distant. "Still, _war_? Really?"

Athena didn't say anything, instead exchanging a glance with Alucard. Lester was unable to read the expressions on their faces, but ventured on, "That's all I gathered, at any rate. I do not know what exactly they are attacking, however, or if attacking is even on the agenda."

"So in short, we know nothing," Athena concluded.

"Not quite," Alucard corrected, quietly. His breakfast had been demolished, while everyone else was eating theirs at a more leisurely pace. "We know that a number of capable trainers, coordinators, and breeders are coming, and are arriving. That is more than what we knew yesterday at this time."

"Is that optimism I hear?" Mei said with a smirk. "How unbecoming." Alucard, predictably, ignored her.

"Regardless, I think it beneficial to keep each other posted of what we know," Lester said, and Athena nodded in agreement as he added, "Even if we do not always get along."

"One more thing," Athena said, stopping Alucard from rising to his feet by ghosting a hand over his arm. "Mr. Treble thinks we should let the entire class know about this."

"Even the transfers?" Mei asked, eyebrows raised. Athena inclined her head in response. "I suppose it couldn't hurt, but honestly, I'm not sure if I trust them to keep a secret. They're still new, and they're not sure how things work yet."

"Give it a few weeks, then," Lester decided. "If it becomes imperative that we all work together, well. Let us burn that bridge when we get there."

It wasn't exactly a dismissal, but it was enough for the Double A's; they silently got to their feet and filed away, Alucard's hands intertwined behind his back while Athena crossed her arms across her chest. Lester had no idea what they could be discussing in their strange nonverbal conversation, and he returned to poking at his food while Mei stretched her arms above her head.

"We done here?" she asked, twisting her spine left, then right. The movements were practiced, controlled, and Lester was once again reminded that she could likely snap him in half if she so desired. "I'm going to go find Chase and see what she thinks about this mess."

"Asking _me_ permission?" Lester asked, just the tiniest curl to his lip. "I had no idea you felt that way, Huang."

"Ha! Keep dreaming, Dawson."

"What makes you think I do?"

Mei barked out a laugh before she departed, taking her tray with her while Lester went to dump the contents of his in the trash. The banter was familiar and comforting in its own way, and Lester left the cafeteria feeling considerably lighter than he did before; it was always good to know that he had capable colleagues, no matter that the times he got along with them were few and far in-between.

* * *

 _Saturday, September 10_ _th_ _  
Day 6  
NOON: Courtyard_

"Can I sit with you guys?"

Ray and James looked up from their books to find Josephine of all people standing above them, lunch tray in one hand, book bag in the other. The two exchanged a fleeting glance, but both were polite to the core and so they simply gave each other a nod.

"By all means," James said, patting the ground next to him, and Josephine let her bag fall to the ground with a grateful sigh, neatly falling into a crosslegged seat as she balanced her lunch tray on her knees. Ray marked his page and closed his book, tucking into his bag as James did the same, and for a while, no one said anything as Josephine delicately tucked into her sandwich.

"Sorry about this," Josephine says after swallowing a bite. "I know we don't know each other at all, but Lune's hit on me three times already while I was trying to discuss battle tactics and this is one of the only ways to scare him off."

"Proving you have a harem?" Ray said, eyebrows raised.

"Sure, let's go with that," Josephine said with a snort.

"You're not saying that you regret that you partnered up with him, are you?" James asked lightly, a small smile on his face.

"Hardly," Josephine said, "We've certainly won enough battles," and she pats the collar of her uniform where four stars currently rest. James shrugs, nonchalant, as she goes on, "Still, he is such a bother sometimes. I don't understand him at all. I keep hoping some of those graduates I've seen around will mistake him for a girl, just so he can get his ass kicked."

"Have you met any of them?" Ray interrupted, curious despite himself. James and Lestia had told him about Kieran, but otherwise neither he nor CC had encountered any in their classes.

"Not personally, which is probably for the best. I'd rather not get on any of their bad sides."

"They certainly do not look like much," Ray mused. "I can only imagine they are absolute terrors on the battlefield, though."

"They're not partaking in the evening battles," Josephine said with a shake of her head. "As far as I know, they're just... watching."

"Waiting for something?" James asked, head tilted inquisitively.

"So it would seem."

At this point the conversation hit an awkward lull, as Ray scrambled to find something they could talk about while James seemed content to return to his novel. Josephine merely continued shoving food into her mouth, almost mechanically, while staring at the tree opposite her, and in the end Ray gave up, slipped his book back into his bag, and took out his tablet instead, tapping his way to his web browser. He might as well see if he could learn anything about this whole thing, or otherwise attempt to hack into the school's website.

Instead, the first thing he saw was a headline declaring Team Rocket's latest attack in Kanto – a failed attempt to take the Silph Co. tower from its company, the second time in less than five years.

He furrowed his brow as Josephine continued to eat and James continued to read. This was... odd. Team Rocket hadn't made an appearance for a few years now, and it was in fact presumed that its former leader, Giovanni, had long since left the Kanto-Johto regions. Surely no one had picked up the reins without anyone's notice? Yet it was clearly a terrorist act, as Ray perused photos of flames being extinguished by water-type Pokémon and wreckage strewn about Saffron City. _Ten dead as of this morning_ , he read, and his stomach clenched.

He didn't suppose it was related, at least not directly, but the timing was peculiar. He'd have to ask around. Perhaps Lester would know something, or – Arceus help him – he could try to approach Athena. He was pretty sure he would have better luck asking an Arbok for advice.

Then again, Josephine was sitting right there.

"Look at this," he said, and spun his screen so Josephine could look. She chewed and tilted her head at him after she scanned the page, unsure as to his meaning, and he pressed, "Do you not think the timing is a bit strange? Team Rocket has not been active for years."

As he expected, Josephine caught on quickly ."You think something like that is related to Ossos somehow?" She leaned back, shaking her head. "I think you're giving this school a bit too much credit, Zimmerman."

"You think?" Ray said doubtfully, pulling his tablet back into his lap.

"I'll admit the timing is weird. But Ossos alumni have always been the vanguard against crime. That, or the uncatchable perpetrators of it," Josephine explained. "If anything, having the alumni here means that they're protecting us from something – " She trailed off, and then said, eyes wide, "Actually, take that back. You might be onto something."

"What?" James asked, checking back into the conversation, and Ray, after exchanging a glace with Josephine, gave him his tablet to look.

* * *

 _Sunday, September 9_ _th_ _  
Day 7  
MIDMORNING: Shopping Center_

There were too many people at the mall.

Lestia tried to listen in on CC and Lune's animated discussion – with CC punching Lune every time he attempted to hit on her – but her frazzled brain couldn't focus on anything but her own distress. She _hated_ crowds; she'd only agreed to go shopping because CC promised they'd go to a bookstore. So far it had been a dismal two hours with nary a bookstore in sight, and Lestia had often been abandoned at the front of clothes boutiques, trembling in silence as she waited for Lune and CC to finish picking and choosing their purchases.

She should've stayed back at school. James and Ray said they were going to get some extra Pokémon training in, and had asked her if she wanted to join them. CC convinced her otherwise, of course, but now Lestia was wondering if she had made a mistake in letting her friend do so.

" – Lestia! Hey, Lestia!"

Lestia blinked and looked up from her hands, where she had been worrying her sleeve between two fingers. CC was grinning at her, while Lune gave her a soft, reassuring smile that managed to only make her even more anxious.

"There's a bookstore up ahead. Should we stop in?"

Wordlessly, Lestia nodded her head, not trusting her voice. She was certain it would come out high and shaky if she spoke.

"Cool! Lune and I will be across at the store there. Meet in an hour?"

Her heart plummeted, even as she nodded again. They were leaving her alone with a bunch of strangers, again; at least this time she had books, she told herself.

CC immediately took off, chattering endlessly, and in the end it was Lune who glanced back, doubt and hesitance written across his face, before he let CC drag him along. Lestia spent a few seconds rooted to the spot before she got her legs to move, and once she was inside the bookstore proper, she immediately sought out a space hidden behind shelves, guarding her from view. She ended up in the history section, where she huddled onto the ground, tucked between two bookshelves, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her face in her knees.

The store was quiet, and any mall sounds that made it through the thick wooden shelves were muffled and muted; for a few moments, the darkness was comforting. Lestia breathed in, breathed out, counting to ten and back and again, until her heart stopped hammering and her fingers stopped shaking. Then she uncurled herself and got to her feet, hand reaching out to brace herself on a shelf until her knees stopped wobbling. Instead her fingers tugged on the spine of a book, and it fell to the ground with a solid _thunk_. Lestia, cheeks heating up in embarrassment, immediately ducked down to put it back where it belonged.

She stopped when she saw the cover: _A Comprehensive History of The World's Criminal Syndicates._ The subtitle read _Includes Stories From Each Region's 'Team'_ , and the cover looked like one a person might find in the mystery section. She flipped to look at the dust flap and immediately found famous names blaring at her – Gary Oak was one she recognized instantly – and, intrigued, she tucked the book under her sleeve and made for one of the armchairs in the place.

A half-hour later, she learned everything from Team Magma's Maxie's favorite food (chili) to the rumor that Team Rocket leader Giovanni might have had a son, somewhere, somehow (he had red hair, supposedly). Lestia was not quite sure what to make of it, nor why she found herself so curious about the subject in the first place. Ray had mentioned the crime syndicates earlier that day, more as an afterthought than anything else – he would like perusing this book, and it was, by itself, an interesting read. With that in mind, Lestia flipped it shut, stood, and kept it in her hands as she began to look around.

She was in the middle of reading the back of a science fiction novel when she heard a soft "Hey," and when she turned, she was it was Lune. Immediately her throat closed up and her eyes began darting around, looking for an escape. "We were just wondering where you were," Lune said, raising both hands up in a surrender gesture at the sight of her anxiety. "CC's further up. She got distracted by the research transcripts. Said she saw something on the theory of relativity or something."

She was supposed to laugh, at least, Lestia thought so. She didn't do anything except nod, and when Lune took a hesitant step closer, she took one of equal distance back without thinking. His blue eyes were soft when he looked at her, which just made it that much more awkward, and she looked down and away, staring hard at the floor.

"Coming?" he asked, after a few heartbeats.

"In a – " She coughed into a fist, and finished almost inaudibly, "In a second."

"Oh, okay. I'll wait for you."

 _Please don't_ , she wanted to say. Instead she tried to finish reading the summary on the back of the book in her hands. Failing that, she put it back, picked up the next, more to hide her shaking hands than anything else.

He kept _staring_ at her, like she couldn't see him at all. She bit her lip and replaced the other book, and then gave him a silent nod.

"This way," he said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and Lestia quietly followed him, the history book clutched to her chest. This was important, she felt, the way Lune was treating her, as if she was spun glass that would shatter at the slightest nudge. But the book was more important still, and far less likely to cause her anxiety with it was near. She needed to talk to Ray, or to CC, or maybe even to James about this.

But for now, she followed Lune out of the fiction section and into the nonfiction upstairs, and she remained silent.

* * *

 **Hey dudes!**

 **So. I actually did write this shorter update back in August, but then I read it, decided that it wasn't quite good enough (based on what people told me –** pokefan113 **especially, thanks as always for everything, dear friend, and** NemoTheSurvivor **for your ever-kind words), and erased some sections in order to rewrite them. Naturally, after putting that much work into a chapter, erasing some of it kind of makes me sad and a little discouraged for a bit, though I did eventually hop back to it. Huzzah!**

 **Anyway, you probably already guessed that school sucked my spirit-I-mean-time away from me. Busy busy busy as always, but that's just the way it is. I won't be working on this story very much during the school year, but occasionally when I want a break from school crap I'll write up a chapter instead of an essay and post it instead. So it's not exactly a hiatus? But you'll have no idea when to expect updates, or if what you get will be updates at all because they might be little ficlets I've written with the characters sometimes (see holiday specials in 'A Question of Faith').**

 **Usually I get some done during breaks and such, and like I said earlier, you might get some randomly when the mood strikes me. This is how I managed to finish my first OC story (took me three years, and every time I realize that I just think holy** _ **shit**_ **why did people still stick with me), and since life only gets busier as you get older, it's probably how this one will end up, too.**

 **But, as it is: here you are! An update. Wowza. Only took me three friggin' months or something. Maybe more like two. Still. Shame on me, et cetera et cetera.**

 **Now where did I put that physics homework...**

* * *

 **Credits go were credits are due. In order of appearance** :

JAMES CLEMMER **belongs to** ThatGreenPlumber **.**

CHASE MCCLOUD **belongs to** ShadedLyht **.**

MEI HUANG **belongs to** xSakura-Dango **.**

LESTIA WHYTOO **belongs to** Tisuro **.**

KLAY UMANG (MR. JESTER) **belongs to** NemoTheSurvivor **.**

KIERAN LAISHET **belongs to** Snowsheba **, and they will not have any impact on the story line, so don't get too excited about alumni coming back** **.**

ATHENA KLYMENE **belongs to** NemoTheSurvivor **.**

ALUCARD DATE **belongs to** DeathTheManiac **.**

LESTER DAWSON **belongs to** WereDragon EX **.**

JOSEPHINE ACOSTA **belongs to** unleash-hell-little-one **.**

RAYNE ZIMMERMAN **belongs to** ShadeZyro **.**

LUNETH GATES **belongs to** Apostle of Regeneration **.**

CICELY WEISS **belongs to** Legacy918 **.**


	7. Interlude - A Series of Mondays

**Interlude: A Series of Mondays, i.e. a pointless, plotless chapter! Or so it seems.**

 **As always, the OC submission form is on the bottom of my profile page, and you can put it in a PM and send it along to me. I will be accepting them for the entirety of this story. Thanks much!**

 **(Teacher OCs are always appreciated, even if you've already submitted once before! But only submit twice or I'll be overwhelmed.)**

 **EDIT 12.4.15: minor corrections and fixed some typos.**

* * *

 _Monday, September 17_ _th_ _  
Day 15  
EARLY MORNING: Caféteria_

"This is going to get super awkward," Josephine says, walking up to their lunch table, and Lestia, James, Ray and CC look up, confused, as another student – Shaun, Lestia thinks – pulls up beside her. "Sorry."

"What?" CC asks, and then Josephine holds up a little speaker, Shaun presses something on his tablet, and music comes blaring out loud enough to be painful. Ray slaps his hands over his ears with a grimace while CC ducks her head, and then, and then, Lestia watches Lune swagger in.

"Are you serious?" James shouts over the music, fingers pressed to his ears, and Lestia glances over at her as the he hollers, "The dance isn't for another _month_!"

Lestia's heart drops into her stomach. _Oh no_.

Sure enough, Lune is looking directly at her as he advances, and she jerks her head down to look instead at the safety of her lunch tray. Her hands shake in her lap and she forces herself to take a few deep breathes, to no avail; her nerves are shattered beyond repair at this point, even as Shaun turns down the music so it isn't so ear-piercing. Her faces flushes so hot it hurts a little, and as Lune to the side of her, poster in hand, she feels her whole body start to tremble.

" _Merde_ ," CC says, sounding impressed despite the situation as Lune pulls a bunch of roses from behind his back – _yes those are roses, where did he get roses, oh my Arceus why is this happening to me_ –

And then Lune asks, "Lestia, will you go to the fall dance with me?"

 _No!_

Her mouth is painfully dry as she swallows, curling her fingers together in her lap. The music continues to play, and soon the seconds stretch into minutes, and then longer, and she still can't get her mouth to move or even her head to shake. Lune continues to stare at her patiently, but she doesn't know Lune at all, she does not _want_ to go to the dance with him, she does not actually want to go at all but especially not with a near-stranger no matter how nice they looked (because she isn't blind, far from it), but if she says no, then what would –

"You were right, Josephine. This is going to be exceedingly awkward."

Lestia looks over at Ray – _it's okay, you know him, it's fine_ – only to find him running a hand through his silver hair, a little anxiously. He meets her gaze for a moment, just a moment, and then her eyes widen as he explains, "I asked Lestia yesterday. She is going with me."

For a very brief, very wild moment of panic, Lestia thinks he's serious. But no, his lip quirks up in that little half-smile of his when he meets her eyes again, and she almost deflates in relief. _Thank Arceus for friends_. Even James and CC are on the defensive, leaning over the table a bit so they clearly are with her, and Lestia takes solace in that, draws strength from it.

Meanwhile Josephine looks over at Shaun as he stops the music with a flick on his tablet, and for a few moments, no one says anything. The cafeteria is completely silent – not a surprise, considering how loud the music had been – and the entire student body waits for a reaction. Lestia feels so utterly terrible, but the relief is enough to keep her spine straight, even as her eyes remain quietly on her lunch.

"Oh," Lune says, and Lestia is taken aback by how defeated he sounds. But then it's gone, and his voice is hard as he says, "I see."

"My apologies," Ray says, eyes glinting.

"It's fine." Lestia knows that it is most definitely not. Still, Lune takes his remaining dignity and spins on his heel, taking his poster and bunch of roses with him. The other students in the lunch room remain deadly silent as he goes, and it's not until he's walked out of the double-doors leading in that the room springs to life with murmurs and whispered exclamations and wincing sympathies.

"Well!" Josephine says after a few moments. She coughs into her fist. "Sorry about that. Uh. Yeah."

"This is why we shouldn't listen to Lune whenever he has a grand idea, Josie," Shaun says, sounding exasperated as he brushes black hair away from his face, but his green eyes are bright with amusement as he tucks his tablet away.

"Duly noted," Josephine says with a nod. "Let's skedaddle before Lune decides to come back and get mad at us." They link hands, his pale fingers easily interlocking with her olive ones, and no one at the table says a word as they watch them go.

In fact, it's another few minutes before Ray says finally, "You know, he took that surprisingly gracefully."

"If you call that graceful, I don't want to know what you call bad," CC tells him.

"Can we acknowledge the fact that you actually have to take Lestia to the dance?" James says, and Lestia blushes furiously as Ray frowns at the brunet. James shrugs. "Just sayin'. Can't exactly back down now."

... It's not a terrible predicament. Lestia is not filled with fear and anxiety at the thought of going with Ray, at least, probably because he's a friend, and he respects her distances and knows when and when not to engage her in conversation. CC and James don't do that, not as well as he does at any rate, and then CC squeals, "Oh my _Arceus_ , Lestia, this means we can go _dress shopping_! And talk about _makeup_!"

Lestia quietly closes her eyes and sighs. This is going to be a long month.

* * *

 _Monday, September 24_ _th_ _  
Day 22  
MIDMORNING: Corridor_

"Aww, poor baby, getting rejected so publicly."

"Sapphire," Lune says, gritting his teeth, "Now is really not the time."

He knows it's useless, and Sapphire merely continues to circle around him, blue eyes sparkling, pink hair fluffy and perfect like the rest of her. "It's all right," she coos. "Sometimes affection makes you blind, makes you rash. It's okay."

"Sapphire. Go away."

"It's okay to be angry," she says solemnly, and she has the wickedest grin on her face and Lune resists the strong urge to punch her. He'd fallen for her wiles exactly once; now, she was the only girl he would not, under any circumstances, hit on. (Aside from Athena, for obvious reasons.) He turns, instead, and begins to walk, though he's not sure where he would go.

Unfortunately, Sapphire falls into step beside him, and so he stops, and she stops with him. She doesn't even have to say anything to piss him off, as she touches his arm in quasi-sympathy, and he snaps himself away from her with a warning growl in his throat. She just laughs. It's a light and tinkling sound, and he hates it immediately. "Come on, don't be that way," she says, lips shaped in a moue.

He's saved from having to respond when he hears someone call out, "Hey, Lune!" and he is so relieved to turn and see that it's Chase. Chase and her girlfriend – Rose, that's her name – and at least their smiles are honest.

"We heard about the... _incident_ in the cafeteria," Rose says, tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind one ear as she ignores Sapphire outright. "We thought to offer out condolences."

"Wrong thing to say, Rosie," Chase says, nudging the girl with her elbow before turning to Lune. "She meant we came over to get Sapphire to stop harassing you."

"It's not harassment if he doesn't tell me to stop," Sapphire says sweetly, and Lune opens his mouth to retort, right up until he realizes that yes, she's right; he hasn't yet explicitly told her to cease. Arceus dammit.

"Considering how uncomfortable he looks, I'd wager that doesn't really matter," Chase says, just as sweetly. Rose's hand rests on the raven-haired girl's shoulder, quiet and comforting. "Besides, don't you already have a date?"

"Yes," Sapphire answers, dragging out the vowel to a length that was practically obscene. "But as Rose said, truly, I only wished to offer my condolences."

"For no reason," Lune mutters, crossing his arm over his chest and noticing a moment later that the lower half of his braid is in disarray. He'll have to fix that later. Then he blinks and says, "Wait, _you_ have a date?"

"Surprised?"

"Incredibly. Who did you dupe this time?"

"Dupe? Why, Lune, you think quite lowly of me, don't you?" Rose neatly slips a hand over Chase's mouth when she goes to mutter something likely profane. Sapphire ignores her. "No, of course not. Lester asked me."

That... is just stupid enough to be believable. "Arceus. I feel sorry for the guy, and let me tell you, Lester is not an easy person to pity."

For the first time, annoyance flashes across Sapphire's features, quick as a passing cloud, darkening those blue eyes of her for just a moment; but then her lips are shaped into a little moue, and she says, sugar sweet, "Better off than you, isn't it so?"

Lune snaps a hand out, to do – something, he's not quite sure. He stops it right before it lands on Sapphire's cheek, and the girl doesn't flinch when he pats her face instead of punching it. "Whatever, Sapphire. Bye, Chase, Rose."

"Good day, Lune," Rose says with a nod, Chase imitating her. Lune tries to pretend he isn't bolting away as he turns on his heel and begins to walk, and he grits his teeth when Sapphire's laughter follows him out.

* * *

 _Monday, October 1_ _st_ _  
Day 29  
NOON: Hallway_

Lester hardly seems to mind as Sapphire clings from his arm, giggling, blue eyes sparkling and a small, slight smirk on her face. She's wearing her uniform but there are signs of pink everywhere – her hair, for starters, and her ribbons, her necklace, her bracelet, her socks, her shoes, her rings, on and on and on.

Mei has never been able to stand her for more than a few seconds, but as she watches Lester argue with her, she has to admit they complement each other's skills surprisingly well.

"I'm not sure about this," Athena says carefully, and Sapphire lets out a sweet-sounding laugh and hugs Lester's arm evermore tightly.

"It's a solid plan, Klymene," she says, all bubbly voice and rosy cheeks. "Relax. I've fooled enough teachers and students to know we can get away with this."

"We've considered it from all angles," Lester says with nary a pause in-between. Sapphire casts him a smile, one he completely ignores, as he explains, "I've approached Rose, and she's already confirmed that she can hack the security cams and set up a loop. The hallways will be abandoned. I've already determined the codes for the electronics locks, and if nothing else, Sapphire is an adept lockpicker."

Said lockpicker flashes Mei a V with her fingers. Backwards, Mei notices, meaning the girl is flipping her off, and she merely tilts her head in consideration.

"It still seems rather risky," Athena decides.

"If you're worried about us, you needn't. We all know you don't mean it." Sapphire smiles brightly. Her true colors are far darker than the portrait she typically paints, and she's letting that palette show for now. "If we find anything of use, I'm sure Lester will tell you, as well. No need to worry about loyalty."

Mei regards Lester, and he meets her eyes, communicating that this is indeed the case. Nodding in response, she asks, "You'll be doing this during the dance?"

"Indeed," Lester says, as if they hadn't just had a silent conversation. Mei doubts anyone missed it in either case; the people around her currently are all dangerous and observant in their own rights.

"Sounds fine to me," Mei says, and then she grins. "Maybe I'll join you." No one, at least, tries to tell her she can't do it. They know her family, her mafia background, her skill with a sniper rifle, her ability to hold still and remain still for hours upon hours – no, they can't doubt her, and they don't try to.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Athena asks, gray eyes narrowed slightly in thought.

"Stay out of the way?" Sapphire suggests with a light laugh. Athena stiffens, and Alucard reaches out to tap her hand with his own, for no reason Mei can discern beyond holding Athena back.

"Undoubtedly teachers will be expecting this sort of thing," Lester says, once again ignoring Sapphire entirely. "Perhaps if you could keep them from interfering?"

"Consider it done," Athena says with a nod.

"We can talk about this more as the dance comes up," Mei says.

"That will have to suffice." And with that, Athena begins to move off. Invariably, Alucard trails behind her, and Mei follows soon after. Classes don't start for a while, but her course is halfway across campus; she'd rather get a head start.

As she leaves, she can hear Sapphire chime, "You'll need a pink tie to match my dress."

Lester sounds neither nonplussed nor disinterested as he agrees, "I suppose I do."

Mei grins to herself, and she continues on.

* * *

 _Monday, October 8_ _th_ _  
Day 36  
AFTERNOON: Hallway outside 1-A_

"Hey, Clemmer!"

It's not a voice James recognizes, but he turns anyway, freezing in place when he sees who it is. Immediately CC, Ray and Lestia form a protective wall on either side of him, not defensive but certainly not passive, and they watch in tense silence as Gefahr and Greg approach them.

"So," Gefahr says when they're close, less than an arm's length away, a grin on his kind face, green eyes gleaming, dirty-blond hair tousled just so. "We both have confessions to make."

 _Not this again_ , James thinks.

"We were both planning to ask you to the dance, but then we figured out you had a date."

It's like he's just been dropped into an ice bath. Okay, maybe he'd complained about being single a few times to his folks back home, but this – this was ridiculous, and James struggles not to let any of those feelings appear on his face. Gregory clears his throat but doesn't say anything, light blue eyes watching him attentively, and James doubt he's missed anything. Gefahr merely shrugs, muscles rippling under the sleeves of his uniform. It is a perfect fit, despite the fact that he is well over six feet tall.

"Just thought you might appreciate it," he adds, as if to sweeten the deal, and CC and Lestia burst into uncontrollable laughter. James turns back to glare at them, and when he looks at the two boys, Greg only offers him an apologetic shrug, tucking a strand of blond hair behind his ear, as Gefahr continues to grin unrepentantly.

"I'm not, uh, into guys," James manages at last.

"Damn, really?" James nods, once, the only thing he can manage, and Gefahr sighs. "Shit, why do all the pretty ones have to be straight?"

"I resent that," Greg says.

"Yes, I _know_ I'm pretty, that's why you asked me." Gefahr shakes his head as Greg rolls his eyes so hard it has to hurt. "I bet no girls have asked you, huh, Clemmer? You're losing out, dude."

"One does not control their sexuality," Ray chimes in, trying to be helpful, but James would very much like to be swallowed up by the floor.

"Yeah, but you aren't curious?" Gefahr presses. "At all?"

James doesn't answer, and Greg tugs on Gefahr's arm. "Let's go. We're clearly making him uncomfortable."

"Fine." Gefahr turns and offers James a sardonic wave as they go. "Well, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find us." No one said anything when they turned the corner and James slowly, slowly pivoted on his heels, green eyes wide, hands raking through his brown hair.

"I think they just invited you to a threesome," Lestia says at last, her voice thoughtful, causing CC to choke and Ray to crack up into near-hysterical giggles.

"I have a date?" James says in response, too shell-shocked to process much else, looking to and from all of his friends.

He really shouldn't have been shocked when CC says "Surprise?" – but, as it turns out, he is anyway.

* * *

 _Monday, October 15_ _th_ _  
Day 43  
EVENING: Gymnasium_

Lestia has only just returned to Ray, passing him a cup of punch, when his eyes flick behind her and he says quietly, "You have company, it seems."

"Who?" she asks without turning around. Her hand trembles, but she bites her lip and forces it to still.

"Take a wild guess," Ray says, tilting his head at her, amused smile on his face. His eyes hold her steady; she feels no less assured. "Shout if you need me."

She opens her mouth to protest, but Ray merely nods to the person behind her and then turns, fading into the crowd. It's a bit startling that he blends in so well – his silver hair and red eyes are far from subtle – but it is all forgotten when she turns around and sees Lune scuffing his feet in front of her, hands folded neatly in front of him.

Neither of them say anything, and after a while, Lune holds out his hand. Lestia stares at it, heart hammering in her throat, before she swallows the rest of her punch, sets it on a nearby table, and takes his fingers in her own. He is cool to the touch, and he is gentle as he leads her to the dance floor.

It's a slow dance. _Of course it is_. He's only marginally taller than she is, and she looks anywhere but him as she clasps his fingers, his hand settling on her waist while hers goes to his left shoulder. He clearly knows what he is doing, and she does her best to follow his even steps without looking down too much; in the end, she focuses her eyes just to the right of his neck, and tries to disguise her nervous flush as heat from the room.

"So I really like you," Lune says without preamble, and he must be expecting it because he catches her when she trips on nothing, sputtering.

"I, um, gathered," Lestia says when she has control over her body again. There's no way she can pass the blush on her face as anything but embarrassment now. "You are... fairly obvious."

"Yeah," he says, and this is disquieting, because Lune is brash and confident and now he's soft and uncertain and his edges have been filed into curves. A lock of black hair falls in front of Lestia's eye; she resists the urge to pull a hand away to move it aside. "Sorry."

"It's okay." And in a way, it is.

"Do you have an answer?"

Lestia ignores the heat spreading to the back of her neck as she ponders this. She does, she's sure, but it isn't something she can just spit out. She needs some time to think, and Lune gives that to her, merely holding her steady as they weave their way around the gymnasium.

(She can see Ray watching her from a dark corner of the gym. Next to him are James and CC, who seem to be arguing – and they have her back, will always have to her back, and she feels a burst of confidence race through her blood like lightning.)

"I don't really know you," Lestia says at last. His mouth twitches almost imperceptivity; had she not been standing this close, she would've missed it. "So I can't say that I..." _No. Don't let it end there._ "I – we could get to know each other better," she goes on, and she meets his eyes as squarely as she dares. "I, um, get nervous around people. But I guess I should try. At least."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she confirms, and she's surprised to realize that she means it wholeheartedly. "I'm sorry. Thank you for respecting my boundaries." And what a strange thing to say to someone, but it's true, and she is thankful he does not push her.

"Thank you for giving me a chance," Lune answers, and he's led her off of the dance floor and returned her hand, and then he's gone before she can say anything else and she watches him go with a soft, warm feeling in her chest. He isn't a bad person, she knows this, but he wears a mask to hide behind and she... she doesn't know what she wants, but she'll give it a shot.

The crowd jostles her and she moves out of the way, towards where she had seen Ray and James and CC. She's nervous and, frankly, a little frightened, but she can do it.

She will.

* * *

 _Evening: CORRIDOR_

Mei casts one last look to the gymnasium – sees Josephine and Shaun slow-dancing, Chase and Rose holding hands and dumping something into the punch, Gefahr and Greg making out in the corner despite having been fighting the entire evening ("They're made for each other," Sapphire had sneered), Alucard standing guard while Athena quietly shuts the door after them – and then she's on her own, Lester and Sapphire standing a bit behind her as she glances at them sidelong.

 _Teacher's lounge,_ she mouths, and Lester nods. They had already gone over this: he and Sapphire would hit the principal's office proper, while Mei would try to see what she could scrounge from the computers the teachers used. With any luck, she'd be able to rejoin them in the main office as quick as can be without getting caught, and she throws them a loose salute before leaving. (She picked it up from Lune, and she would never tell the blond as such.)

The corridors are empty as she creeps along, dodging around where she knows there are security cameras and, at one point, using Rose's code to set up a loop and sneak past. The teacher's lounge is locked when she finally gets there, but, in part thanks to a quick refresher from Sapphire, she breaks in with ease. The door is deathly silent as she swings it open, and she darts in quick as can be and gently closes it behind her. There are five desktops lining the counter near the window, but her interest is captured by the laptop sleeping on one of the black leather couches.

"Jackpot," she whispers, moving in, and she lifts the lid reverently and taps the spacebar to wake it up. The login, naturally, asks for a password, and it belongs to one Ms. Veronica Leon, otherwise known as Ms. Psycho, otherwise known as the psychology teacher. Mei grins; if there's any teacher who couldn't keep a secret, it was Ms. Leon, and she begins to muse on several different password choices, feeling the clock ticking in the back of her mind.

She tries two different things. Neither work, and she parks her chin in her hand and frowns at the screen. She knows she can figure this out, even if it's not her strong suit; and she could always call up Rose or Lester, but should she risk it? No, better to wait until she really has run out of ideas, and her fingers settle back onto the keys and -

"It's p-s-y-c-h-n-3-u-r-0-l-o-g-y," someone says behind her, and Mei, Arceus save her, lets out a tiny shriek before she covers her mouth and whips her head around to come face-to-face with dark brown eyes set on dark skin and black hair. Her mind scrabbles to attach a name to the visage as the someone leans back, cool as winter, and says dryly, "Don't bother. I've already checked."

"Laishet," she finally gets out. _Kieran Laishet_. Right.

"Relax. I'm not going to report you." They eye her without emotion. "There is nothing of interest here, however. I was just going to go to administration when you came in – very quietly, by the way. Nicely done. Your name?"

Dare she refuse? Nope, absolutely not. "Mei Huang."

Kieran's eyes flash with recognition. "The Huang mob, yes? Mafia? I see. Explains a lot." They turn and head for the door, slipping long, slender pieces of metal out of their sleeve; well-used lockpicks, it seemed. "Come."

Mei follows wordlessly, because what else is she supposed to do? It's clear Kieran is a coordinator before anything else, but even a coordinator could easily take her down, especially if they're a graduate and have the necessary credentials to return here after – whatever brought the alumni back. She can't take them on, and she's rather content not getting beat up.

Although she is very curious, and so she says, "Question."

"Ask," Kieran says without inflection.

"Why are you snooping around? I thought graduates would know what was going on."

"As it turns out, we do not," Kieran answers. "Of us who chose to return at the principal's request, all are currently scattered about the building, searching for answers. I doubt Dawson and Argent have gone unnoticed."

"So no one knows what's happening?"

"So it seems."

Mei doesn't say anything else. This is something Athena and Alucard need to know.

* * *

The only warning Lester gets is Sapphire's harried "there's someone behind us!" – and then a stranger slips in, followed closely by Mei. It takes but a moment for Lester to pin a name onto them.

"Kieran Laishet," he says, nodding, and then looks at Mei. "Are we in trouble?"

"I sure hope not," Sapphire mutters.

"No," Mei says in response to his question.

"Good," Sapphire says, for once not appearing to be perfectly in control. "Because we're not leaving until we're in. How much longer?"

Lester returns his attention to the principal's desktop, fingers resuming their frenzied pace on the keyboard. "Soon. Would someone please explain what is happening?"

"None of the Ossos alumni know what's going on," Mei says, which Lester processes with some degree of incredulity. Mei doesn't let him think about it for long, though, as she says, "You didn't see anyone on the way in?"

"No. It was deserted," Sapphire says.

"Likely because we did not want to get in your way," Kieran says flatly. "We would rather not get in trouble. If the principal knew what we were doing at this moment, it would be terrible indeed."

"Noted," Lester says, knowing he'll have to grill Mei on this later. He taps _enter_ once with finality and says, "We're in. Where to?"

"Email," Mei says instantly, followed a heartbeat later by Sapphire, and Lester ignores Kieran's gaze prickling the back of his neck as he clicks into his principal's mail. It feels very wrong and intrusive, but curiosity trumps morality, and he scrolls a bit before Mei, leaning over his shoulder, points at one in particular. "There. Subject line is _Re:_ _Preparation for Students_. Seems promising."

Lester clicks it. The message is a back-and-forth between the principal and someone whose email address is a series of numbers and letters. Of the most recent message, the first line is this:

 _We must prepare the best of the students – and send them down the dark road. I am sorry. There is no other way, not without risking the entire student body._

He looks over at Sapphire without bothering to read the rest, and the slowly-growing confusion on Sapphire's face perfectly mirrors his own.

"Well," Kieran says, sounding completely nonplussed as they step back from where they had been leaning on the desk, "That can't be anything good."

"Now if only we knew what the dark road _is_ ," Mei says, letting out a sharp laugh, and Lester exhales softly through his nose.

* * *

 **'Sup guys!**

 **So, update, yeah? It was a little rough going in, but I managed to throw together this big ol' mess and get it up and ready late Sunday night. Well. Sort of, seeing as it's Monday. Same difference. Either way:** **I apologize if the quality is a bit less than you were expecting this time around - it's written in present tense, for one, which is different, and it takes place over an month and skips over quite a bit of detail in terms of rankings and such. (They'll be touched upon next chapter, pinky promise, when we get back to one chapter spanning one day.) Anyway.  
**

 **Drama! Intrigue! People get some and people lose some and there is sneaking around. I feel like I should have put less emphasis on the relationships aspect of these characters ( _cough_ Lestia stole the spotlight _cough_ ), but at the same time, romance scenes! Still very excited for those, whenever they happen. Although I did enjoy the sneaking around thing - Lester and Sapphire make a surprisingly good duo when it comes to digging up secrets, something I wasn't expecting when I first wrote the scene.  
**

 **Additionally, I had a lot of cameos from some OCs that didn't make it to class 1-A and kind of shoved them into relationships with each other. Gefahr and Gregory have a confusing friendship/romance and it's actually quite funny for me as the writer. And Rose and Chase, and Shaun with Josie, and - well, there's a lot of stuff I could comment on in here, but for now, I'll just let it go and ask what you thought of all of this. Because, frankly, I'm not sure. Please let me know in the reviews or by PM! (I may not respond but I do see and appreciate them, promise, and I sometimes don't have the time or words to answer.)  
**

 **Hopefully I'll see you again in a couple of weeks for the holiday break! Have a great day, y'all.**

* * *

 **Credits go where credits are due. In order of appearance** :

JOSEPHINE ACOSTA **belongs to** unleash-hell-little-one **.**

SHAUN KURO **belongs to** mr. diddles **.**

LESTIA WHYTOO **belongs to** Tisuro **.**

CICELY WEISS **belongs to** Legacy918 **.**

RAYNE ZIMMERMAN **belongs to** ShadeZyro **.**

JAMES CLEMMER **belongs to** ThatGreenPlumber **.**

LUNETH GATES **belongs to** Apostle of Regeneration **.**

ROSE GOODMAN **belongs to** The M.H.T. of R.

CHASE MCCLOUD **belongs to** ShadedLyht **.**

LESTER DAWSON **belongs to** WereDragon EX **.**

SAPPHIRE ARGENT **belongs to** Cottonmouth25 **.**

MEI HUANG **belongs to** xSakura-Dango **.**

ATHENA KLYMENE **belongs to** NemoTheSurvivor **.**

ALUCARD DATE **belongs to** DeathTheManiac **.**

GEFAHR SENRO **belongs to** Condor-K **.**

GREGORY DOE **belongs to** snowwolf12132 **.**

KIERAN LAISHET **belongs to** Snowsheba.


	8. 6 - Unforeseen

**Chapter 6, or Unforeseen.**

 **As always, the OC submission form is on the bottom of my profile page, and you can put it in a PM and send it along to me. I will be accepting them for the entirety of this story. Thanks much!**

 **(Teacher OCs are always appreciated, even if you've already submitted once before! But only submit twice or I'll be overwhelmed.)**

* * *

 _Tuesday, October 16_ _th_ _  
Day 44  
WAY TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING: Boys' Dormitories_

"Hey, Alucard – you up?"

Alucard shifted and rolled over to see what the black clock on his bedside table said. _5:46_ blared back at him in gleaming white numbers, and with a resigned sigh he sat up, reaching up to gently massage what remained of his right eye.

"Just thought you'd want to know," Gregory said, handing him his tablet and causing Alucard to squint at the soft illumination. Greg merely went back to his own bed, sitting on the covers; already, this early in the morning, his comforter currently cushioned a laptop and three textbooks, a fourth of which was presently reopened on his lap. "Your sister lives around there, right?"

Alucard took a moment to tie his eyepatch around his eye before picking up the tablet proper, running his tongue through his mouth and wishing he could have at least brushed his teeth first. Then he read the headline: _Galactic Attempts Takeover of Windmills, Floaroma Evacuates_. Underneath was commentary about the attempt, and underneath that was – was a death count.

He bit his lip. He didn't realize until a moment later that he had bitten so hard that blood was running down his chin, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand as he stood and walked over to set the tablet onto Greg's desk. His phone was charging quietly next to his clock; he unhooked it and swiped his passcode before tapping the first number on speed-dial.

It rang once, twice. _Please pick up the phone, Sofia._ Three times, then four. It went to an answering machine, and he hung up, tried again. _Please, please, please_. Same result, and he ended the call and his hand fell lifelessly to his side.

"She didn't pick up?" Greg asked from across the room, running a hand through dirty blond hair, concern written all over his face – he was one of the few Alucard would perhaps consider a friend, and, oddly, it helped to know that he wasn't the only one who cared. Alucard didn't move, and Greg sighed and shook his head. "Try calling later. It's really late at night in Sinnoh right now."

Alucard gave a slight nod, and his roommate eyed him for a few moments longer before returning to the textbook in his lap. He stared at his phone, mind swirling and unfocused, and then entered another number. Athena picked up almost immediately despite it being so early, and the first thing she said was "She's going to be fine, Alucard. She's strong."

"She – "

"No, we're not having this discussion over the phone. Get dressed. I'm in the usual place."

Athena hung up, and Alucard went to do as she said.

* * *

 _MORNING: Homeroom_

"Morning, kiddos," Mr. Trebs said, and the cheerful smile on his face was completely ignored by the drooping students in front of him. CC was almost entirely certain he kept it on his face just to be annoying, as he tutted and said, "My, my, you're all looking puckered out. Was the fall dance really that exciting?"

"Someone spiked the punch," CC volunteered after a few moments of silence. Beside her, Lestia rubbed circles into her temples, and further beyond Ray let out a small groan, head in his hands.

Presently Mr. Trebs' eyebrow rose. "Really? With what?"

"We're thinking vodka," James supplied, ever the erstwhile sidekick. He and CC exchanged a conspiratorial glance as he explained, "There was a bottle of it shattered in the trash can."

"Also the DJ fell off the stage and some sophomore took over and she was _way_ better," CC added. Mei nodded in agreement, as did Josephine and Lester.

"The dance was relatively tame this year, it seems," Mr. Trebs mused. "The year before, someone poured an entire bottle of Tamato berry juice into the punch bowl and then put hot sauce on all of the refreshments. It was _very_ exciting."

"You have to admit the fire Pokémon liked it," Lune said, sounding strangely – or perhaps not-so-strangely – defensive. "And it was pretty funny when the principal choked on the chips."

"The Pokémon shouldn't have been there in the first place," Lester pointed out, hands neatly folded on his desk.

"Probably not, since they set the decorations on fire," Lune said, grinning. "Which was also very exciting."

Mr. Trebs was shaking his head when CC turned back in her desk to face forward again. "Kids these days," he said, sounding vaguely fond. "Almost killing a quarter of the student population just isn't enough, hm? They have to go and get underage students drunk this time. Unbelievable."

"Last year was fine, Trebs," Mei said, voice cool despite the small smile on her face. "Everyone got out, the water Pokémon were on it, no one inhaled enough smoke to damage their lungs. It was fun."

"And we got a new stadium out of it," Josephine added with a smile. "So, yes. The underage drinking thing is way worse."

"Your collective ability to justify anything never fails to amaze me," Mr. Trebs, and now he sounded proud. CC could only mentally sigh. "But, as interesting as this is, I do have some news straight from the principal – so let's settle down, please. Lune, please sit in your chair."

"But I like this desk," Lune said, on which he was sitting cross-legged.

"I'll pull the article you're writing for the newspaper unless you sit in your chair."

CC didn't even hear him move, but one blink later Lune was sitting ramrod straight in his seat, a clearly fake smile plastered on his face. If it wasn't Mr. Trebs, CC knew Lune would have given him the middle finger.

Their teacher, though, just clapped his hands together once. "Very good. On a more serious note – I'm glad you're all unharmed and ready to go to the pits tonight. Or relatively unharmed," he said, casting a brief glance at the two hungover students in class. "On a different subject, however, I'm supposed to tell you that the stakes have been raised for Fives, i.e. if you're a Five by the end of the semester, you'll get a full ride for some prestigious program the principal was fairly vague about. Also exciting, yes?"

"Was it a good vague or a bad vague?" Josephine asked, leaning forward on her desk.

"Can't say," Mr. Trebs answered. "We'll learn more details at the mandatory staff meeting this evening. Which means the newspaper club will be without adviser, consequently. Lune – can I trust you to be in charge?"

"After threatening me by taking my article away? Such _faith_ , Trebs. You got it."

"Your sass is as refreshing as a heatwave in July," Mr. Trebs said, whirling around to look at the board in the front of the room, and Lune laughed, once. "Regardless, most of you are already Fives, so whatever this program is, you'll likely be a part of it."

Athena: 172 wins; 0 losses  
Alucard: 172 wins; 0 losses  
Cicely: 129 wins; 43 losses  
James: 129 wins; 43 losses  
Josephine: 141 wins; 31 losses  
Lester: 167 wins; 5 losses  
Lestia: 139 wins; 33 losses  
Lune: 141 wins; 31 losses  
Mei: 167 wins; 5 losses  
Ray: 139 wins; 33 losses

"I say _most_ because our dear James and CC seem to be lagging," Mr. Trebs added unnecessarily. He scrutinized first James and then her, green eyes bright and hard. "Come now, it's been over a month. If you haven't figured out how to work together, then perhaps you should find a new partner."

CC's hand flew up to cover the stars at her collar – three, just as it had always been. Everyone else in the room had five, and Lestia and Ray would probably be giving her a sympathetic smile if they both didn't have headaches.

"We'll figure it out, Mr. Trebs," James said, and he sounded confident enough for it to be believable.

"I should hope so," Mr. Trebs said, narrowing those green eyes at first him and then her. "Class 1-A is currently leading in the number of Fives, and I will not let you two pull us down from the first position."

"Ah, yes, because rankings are the most important thing in life," CC drawled.

"I do love to keep tabs on my _favorite_ student," Mr. Trebs answered, eyes narrowing further. Any pretense of friendliness was gone now. "Detention, miss Weiss. I'll let your elective teachers know where you are."

"Oh, so Lune can talk back, but I can't?" she shot back before her mind could tell her to shut up.

"Would you like detention for two days, miss Weiss? That can be easily arranged."

 _Merde_. She slouched in her seat, pouting, and when James turned his head slightly to give her an exasperated glare she glared right on back. Meanwhile Lestia let out a soft sigh, turning her head away when CC shifted her attention to her, and she felt a flare of anger coil in her chest. It wasn't _fair_ , but it was her fault, and now she wouldn't be able to get some more practice time in and Mr. Trebs was still pissed at her.

She'd have to make it up, somehow. She'd ask Josephine if she knew what Mr. Trebs would accept as a bribe disguised as a gift, or she could try to ask Athena. Just thinking about that made her head spin – so many variables she'd have to consider just to get a response alone – but she was startled out of her short reverie when something beeped.

"Ah, an update," Mr. Trebs said, back to his teaching mode, hopping onto his desk and snatching his tablet into his hands, presumably the thing that had made the beeping noise. There were a few minutes of silence as he flicked through whatever was on the tablet, and then he announced without looking up, "There's now a curfew. Which doesn't make sense, since you all need to be at the pits most of the night – oh, I see. It seems no one is allowed into the school building after nine o'clock."

Josephine hummed thoughtfully. "If I didn't know better, I'd say administration is paranoid."

"Someone broke into the principal's computer last night," Mr. Trebs said airily, deliberately turning away from the class at large as he tapped away at his tablet. "They don't know who yet, but kudos to the people who did it. Oh, but don't quote me on that, Lune."

"Wouldn't dream of it, sir," Lune said, putting his newspaper-devoted legal pad and his pen away with a smirk.

Athena was chuckling quietly in her seat, and CC looked from her to Alucard, who had his fingers over his eye, to Lester who was smirking and Mei who was tapping her fingers on her desk. She hadn't seen them at the dance until late in the night or not at all, and she didn't know who else would try something so risky – she'd have to ask her friends what they thought about it later.

"It seems we don't have much time left in the hour," Mr. Trebs said presently. "Any last remarks before you leave? Unless you'd all like a five-minute crash course in Sinnohan history." Groans filled the room, and he spread his arms in a pacifying gesture, grinning widely. "I'm open to suggestions."

"Can you tell us about Cresselia?" Ray asked, voice muffled. CC knew he had had exactly one cup of punch; he was either a lightweight or there really had been straight vodka in the bowl.

"Cresselia? Mm. We don't get to her until later in the year in class, but I can pull up the presentation. Any reason in particular?"

"Read it in a book recently," Ray answered, voice uncharacteristically curt. "They talked a lot about dreams. In Sinnoh, dreams seem to be directly influenced by Cresselia and Darkrai. Was just curious."

"I've read the book you're talking about, I think," Mr. Trebs said, one hand flying over his tablet. A moment later, CC's own tablet lit up and she could observe the creature that was presumably Cresselia on her screen. "Very well, let's talk a bit about dreams and these two very interesting Pokémon until the bell. If you'll take a look at your tablets..."

* * *

 _LATE MORNING: Cafeteria_

Mei had just sat down across from Rose when, without preamble, Chase said from next to her, "Lester's acting up again."

"What color?" Mei asked tiredly, mechanically shoveling waffle into her mouth. Being a Five had its perks; the thing practically melted in her mouth and she felt a smile tilt her lips, despite the situation.

"Yellow, I think," Rose said, turning and craning her neck to peer three tables over.

"Has he caused any trouble yet?"

"Nope," Chase said with a shrug. "Sapphire's sitting next to him, and whatever she's saying is keeping his focus elsewhere."

Mei's eyebrows shot into her hairline as she gave Chase a questioning look. Her friend merely smiled and took another bite of her cereal, and Mei looked past her to see that this was indeed the case.

"Holy shit," Mei said, a smile spreading slowly, slowly across her face, "Do you know what this _means_?"

"You can finally come to the mall with us on Saturdays?" Rose asked, curling her hands together with a small grin.

"Yeah, that," Mei said with a fervent nod, "But this means _I don't have to be his babysitter anymore_."

Closer inspection revealed that Sapphire was stabbing at her tablet with her finger, speaking so quickly Mei couldn't quite track her lips. Lester was paying rapt attention even as his fingers danced a strange, unnatural rhythm on the table, even as his smile seemed sharp rather than kind, even as his eyes blazed with manic light. Mei wagered that whatever they were discussing pertained to their midnight search yesterday.

Sapphire said something else, reaching out to shake Lester's shoulder – and just as suddenly everything faded, his eyebrows knit together, his lips fell into a thoughtful frown; his gem flared gold and faded into a deep sea blue and _holy mother of Arceus this was the best day of her life_.

"Okay," Chase said in a breathy whisper, "I'm not the only one who saw that, right?"

"No," Rose confirmed. Mei just sighed happily, shoving another bite of waffle into her mouth, and the girl eyed her with just a trace of amusement in her eyes. "I would have thought you'd feel envious, that Sapphire can affect Lester so while you have never been able to."

"The sooner he's not my headache, the better," Mei answered with a shrug. "We're friends – barely. I'd call us acquaintances."

"Even though it is rare you are not seen in his company, or at least in nearby proximity?"

"And she whines about it every single goddamn day," Chase said with a snort, flashing Mei a bright smile. "For good reason, of course."

Mei opened her mouth to answer when Lester caught her eye over Chase's shoulder, making a slight hand gesture that meant _come here_. She tilted her head at him and he made the motion more urgently; Sapphire added her blue gaze to his, and for once she looked serious, dropping her cutesy pretense for a least a few seconds.

"I spoke too soon. Duty calls," Mei said instead, nodding to Lester once, and she glanced back to Chase and Rose and lowered her voice. "Chase, you didn't see anything weird in the school's feeds last night, did you?"

"Someone besides Rose set up three loops on select cameras, but other than that, no," Chase replied softly. "I've been monitoring as best I can from my tablet, but I'll need more people if we really want to keep an eye on the school."

"I'll get in touch with class 1-C," Rose said, flipping her tablet into her hand from her bag. She gave Mei a nod. "I'll also run the candidates by you before I contact them."

"Great, thanks, Rosie. I'll let you know how it goes, Mei."

"Good luck," Mei whispered, and then she picked up her lunch tray and her bag and made the brief journey to Lester and Sapphire's table, where they were, of course, sitting alone. Not many people ate breakfast at this point in the day; most came in the early morning, and she slid into the spot across from them and watched them expectantly, slicing up the remainder of her waffle with her fork.

In response, Sapphire spun her tablet and pushed it towards her. Mei wiped her hand on a napkin before picking it up, scanning the headline quickly: _Revived Team Magma Has Joined Forces with Revived Team Aqua_. The pictures showed a fleeting image of an airship of some kind – a compromise between land and water, perhaps?

"And this coupled with the Team Rocket attack last month, I presume," Mei said, handing the tablet back.

"Team Flare has been active in Kalos as well all month," Lester added. "As has Team Galactic in Sinnoh, since this morning."

"Team Plasma?"

"Not currently," Sapphire answered. She looked over at Lester as if for approval, but he was staring at a point at the ceiling, and so she looked back. "N Harmonia hasn't been seen since the new Champion found him again, and what remains of the Team are located in Driftveil, where the Gym Leader has placed them under close supervision due to their proximity to the World Pokémon Tournament. It's unlikely anything might occur."

"Hold that thought," Mei said, taking out her own tablet and tapping along the screen until she got to the Ossos IM-ing system. She sent a quick note to Alucard and Athena, asking them to join them at their table should they be in the cafeteria, not daring to tell them any details of what was currently being discussed. Once Athena pinged confirmation, she put her tablet flat on the table and leaned forward over her lunch tray. "Okay. How does this pertain to us?"

"Josephine let me know about Team Rocket's attack, initially," Lester said, still staring at the ceiling. "You'll be surprised to know that it was our classmate Ray Zimmerman who first drew a connection between the criminal syndicates and the returning alumni, I think."

" _Zimmerman_ did?"

Lester nodded. "Additionally, he brought it to Josephine's attention, who then brought it to mine. It seems our operation yesterday did not go unnoticed."

"Lune wouldn't miss something like that," Sapphire said dismissively, flapping a hand. "Even if he was leaning over Whytoo the entire dance."

"You're the last person I expected to defend him," Mei said, amused.

Sapphire shrugged. "He's observant and manipulative." She gave Mei a lofty smile. "I like dangerous people."

"Yes, I gathered," Mei said, pointedly looking at the pastel pink bracelet peeking out from under Lester's sleeve. She doubted Lester knew it was there, and Sapphire merely let out her tinkling laugh when Lester didn't notice, and Mei was tempted to look up to see what had captured his interest so intently. "Have either of you talked to one of the graduates about this?"

"Only Kieran," Lester said. "They deduced the same thing we did, and they told us they would ask their fellow graduates to see if anyone knows anything more."

"'We' meaning you two, I presume?"

"Don't play dumb, Huang," Sapphire said, but she was smiling slightly in amusement. "Couples are far more easily overlooked. Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable, additionally, which – "

"I think I'm going to barf," Mei said, raising a hand and stopping Sapphire's stream of words. "You've _kissed_?"

"He's really bad at it," Sapphire said, now grinning outright, eyes gleaming, and Lester sighed when Mei started laughing, loud and hard, as Sapphire added, "He has no idea what to do with his hands."

Predictably, this was when Athena and Alucard slid into the spots next to her – completely silent as always, even their footsteps made not a sound – and Sapphire's smile snapped into a frown, Lester finally glanced down, and Mei managed to scrub the image of kissing out of her mind as her laughter died down.

And as soon as she had composed herself, Athena said with absolutely no inflection, "Team Rocket just took over Goldenrod Radio Tower."

* * *

 _NOON: Class 1-A_

Even though it had been called at the last minute, the Newspaper club had easily managed to scramble together for the emergency meeting. Lune was pretty proud of that, even as lunch went by without any food making its way into his stomach.

"I can't believe they let it happen twice," Lune said, scanning through the multitude of articles that were beginning to crop up about the latest Rocket terrorism. "You'd think Oak would've increased security or something."

Zak, one of his more trusted journalists, shrugged. He reached up to pluck the pencil from behind his ear, blond hair wrangling with his fingers until it released the prize. His notepad was already filled with scribbles only decipherable by him. "Could be worse, chief! What if they'd gotten Silph Co. a few weeks back?"

"We'd probably have some very interesting products in stores," Lune answered, and Zak laughed even as his pencil never stopped moving. His own tablet was open to a new article from _The_ _Saffron Tribune_ , and Lune turned to the person the next desk over. "Makes me wonder where Lance is – or Johto's current Champion, for that matter. Kuro, anything new?"

"Only a few things," Shaun replied, swiping at black hair as he feverishly typed away with the other hand. "Team Plasma's still on the down-low, but Flare, Galactic, and Aqua and Magma are on the move. Steven Stone's refusing to interview, and stand-in Unova Champion Iris announced increased security measures a few hours ago. Also Professor Oak is safe and currently under his grandson's protection."

"Anything about the other Champions?" Lune asked.

"Nothing, which is odd. Ossos alumni seem to be spreading out in the region, though – a lot of coordinators pulled out of Hoenn contests and Ace Trainers employed in Gyms are taking vacation days."

Zak had his pencil between his teeth when he asked, "Anything about breeders?"

"Nothing so far," Shaun said, understanding the garbled words anyway.

Lune looked around Mr. Treble's classroom. There were at least fifteen students scattered about, murmuring as they flicked through article after article on their tablets, taking notes, some taking personal laptops out to begin drafts of stories and editorials. Still more students streamed in and out, cameras looped around their necks with others carrying sound equipment, and designers sat in the back, frantically adjusting the newspaper so the new articles could be put in place.

It was frighteningly efficient. Lune approved.

"Ah!" Zak said suddenly, blue eyes wide, and Lune focused back in. "Chief, check this out!"

The sophomore turned his tablet so Lune could see, and the blond gently took it from him to take a look. " _Gym Leaders Mount Attack in Goldenrod_ ," Lune read aloud, and then swiped his own tablet and typed the first news channel he could think of into the search bar. Shaun leaned out of his chair to look as Lune clicked into a livestream of the news, and Zak took back his tablet and busily resumed work as they watched.

The first thing Lune noticed was that the quality of the footage was terrible. The next thing was that there were unmoving bodies in the streets, Rocket, civilian, trainers and Pokémon alike. And then immediately after that, he saw that there were a number of Ace Trainers sporting the distinctive black and white of Ossos – scarves, in this case, flapping out behind them as Pokémon rage in the streets – fighting alongside the Gym Leaders. The cameraperson was running, so the footage was bumpy, and the reporter was out of sight but her voice flowed steady and clear as she detailed the scene around her.

"Arceus," Shaun whispered, hands stilling on his laptop.

"Team Rocket is _really_ strong," Lune said, sucking in on a breath when the cameraperson stumbled, treating them to a nice view of what was hopefully an unconscious Pokémon. When the camera finally straightened, five agonizing seconds later, five Rocket grunts were finishing off an Ossos trainer. "And they've gotten smart. Look – they've teamed up, five to one."

When the last Pokémon fell, the Ossos trainer barely had time to recall his Pokémon before the Rocket grunt was striding forward and swinging her fist into the trainer's face, hard enough that the she jerked to the side and fell hard to the ground. _Unconscious_ , Lune thought, as Zak chirped, "And they've gotten brutal, too!" far too cheerfully for someone staring in the face of violence.

"Is anyone recording this?" Lune asked the room at large. Three people gave him a thumbs-up, and he smiled widely. "Good. Get it all, edit it, post the good stuff on the website, and _nothing_ too graphic. Looking at you, hotshot."

"You're where fun goes to die, Gates," one of them replied, grinning, but Lune had faith the three of them would do as he said.

Shaun was still watching the livestream, chin parked in his hand as he pursed his lips. The brunet's laptop showed a document filled with small black text, and he looked up only briefly before glancing back at the screen. "It's a summary," he explained, without waiting for the question to be asked. His eyes flicked from one corner of Lune's tablet to the other. "Listings of all attacks since September 10th, exact date of each Team's 'revival', that sort of _oh my Arceus_."

Lune glanced briefly at the screen and made a show of physically recoiling as a Rocket grunt's Pokémon viciously attacked a screaming man dressed in a suit. Zak, meanwhile, was giggling, his pen still moving fluidly across the page of his notepad, and while his odd behavior usually didn't bother anyone, it was just one more disturbing thing to add the pile.

(Inwardly, his mental processes raced. _What could Rocket gain – their reputation will be even worse – who would want to be recruited into – why – no point, no point, is it a scare tactic – there's no way the Gym Leaders won't lose – where is the Champion – why would they kill Pokémon – why are theirs so vicious –_

Each thought flashed only briefly in his mind. As fast as he could answer them questions continued to pop up, and Lune could only devote so much of his attention to it.)

"Fridity," Lune said, and the Zak's blue eyes flicked in his direction, his hand never stilling, "Grab some people, get an article written about the Ossos grads scattered around. I want it to be about coordinators, trainers, breeders if you can find them."

"Will do," Zak said with a nod, neatly pivoting on a foot and scampering off, and Lune turned to Shaun.

"Give me five minutes, and I'll get an article about this online to go with the edited footage," Shaun said when Lune opened his mouth, eyes glued to Lune's tablet.

"Good man. I'm going to see if I can find the one person Josephine was talking about – the grad. Maybe they'll know something. Hold down the fort?"

"Go," Shaun said, waving a pale hand, and Lune went.

* * *

 _EARLY AFTERNOON: Hallway_

"Zimmerman."

Ray stopped from where he was walking in the hallway, book in his hand, and looked up – and then up some more, because Athena Klymene was that much taller than him.

"Ah," he said, and he swallowed and managed, "Klymene." A moment later, as he tilted to see past the arms on her hips, he added, "Date."

Alucard did not react. Athena, meanwhile, stared down at him for a few moments, gray eyes sharp and unreadable; and then she said, "Come with us."

Well, it wasn't like he could refuse. Ray tucked his book into his bag, adjusting the strap more comfortably over his shoulder, and quietly followed them as she turned around and began to walk. Alucard waited until Ray walked past him before following, and Ray got the vague sense that he was walking to his funeral as they led him through the corridors of the school, other students parting before them without breaking their strides, and then they were in the courtyard and Athena was gesturing for him to sit down at one of the picnic tables in the place.

He sat like someone was shoving him down into the chair. Underneath the table his fingers squeezed each other until it hurt, and Athena and Alucard slid into the places across from him.

They didn't say anything for a while. Ray didn't dare speak up, even as nervous, awkward words tried to work their way past his throat, into the open, as if it would make his situation better. In the end he barely managed to keep from squirming, and if he hadn't been so damn nervous, he might've taken out his book again and started reading.

He was soon very, very glad he didn't, because Athena finally looked up, her hands lifting from her lap, and Ray soon realized she'd been messing with her tablet and she was now showing him what she'd been doing – and, as he gingerly took it from her, Alucard's eye never once leaving his fingers, he immediately saw why.

" _Merde_ ," he whispered, shocked, watching the video play on the tablet's screen, " _Ceci est Dublonville_?"

"Yes, that's Goldenrod City," Athena confirmed, and Ray would've snapped his head up to look at her if he hadn't been engrossed in the video. "Team Rocket has taken the Radio Tower."

Ray remained silent, watching the rest of the video before flicking down to skim the article. It was neat, brief summary of all of the attacks that had occurred since _September 10_ _th_ _, that's when I first brought the Silph Co. attack to Josephine's attention_ , surprisingly well-written despite it being from Ossos's own school newspaper, and after he'd finished he carefully turned the tablet around and returned it to Athena, who took it without fanfare.

"Why show me this?" Ray asked, tentative. "Why tell me?"

Athena studied him, expression unreadable. Beside her, Alucard was doing the same, blinking thoughtfully every time Ray's eyes flicked over to look at him from Athena. Ray was beginning to see why so few students could like these two on a more personal level than before – conversing with them was seemingly impossible, prone to silences as they were.

"Mr. Treble recommended we bring the entire class up to speed on what's happening right now in Ossos," Athena said at last. "Out of your friend group, you have demonstrated the most competence. You are, naturally, the best candidate to broach this topic with."

"I am... flattered," Ray said. _I think_.

"The reason Ossos graduates are coming is because the principal requires many students to be Fives. You recall the prestigious program Mr. Treble mentioned earlier today." She did not phrase it as a question.

"Yes," Ray said anyway.

"That program is a lie. A few of our classmates investigated the night of the fall dance and discovered that it was a cover for something far worse."

"And that is?"

"We're not sure yet." Athena only looked slightly frustrated, just a small dip of a frown on her lips, and Alucard remained completely impassive. "Regardless, we're beginning to guess that becoming Fives may not be a good idea. Unless the program in fact proves to be legitimate, we're considering drastic measures."

"Drastic – " and his mind scrabbled - "You would risk losing?"

Athena's eyes flashed. "You demonstrate your competence yet again. Yes. That's exactly what is implied."

"I do not understand. What could possibly...? Why would the principal do something behind the students' backs?"

"You've not been here as long as we have," Athena said, and Ray wished he was recording this somehow so the others would believe that he'd had an actual conversation with one of the Double A's, "But you should understand that the principal has never done anything like this. The fact that this is occurring at all is troubling, and that's why we're informing you of this right now. Make sure to pay attention."

"Pay attention to what?" _To you?_ He'd already done that.

"The world may not revolve around Ossos, but that does not mean we don't have any sway," Athena said, not quite answering. When she stood up, Alucard did so at the exact same time, and it was slightly creepy. "Don't let your guard down, Zimmerman."

Between one blink and the next the two seniors were gone, and Ray craned his neck sideways to see them walking back into the school. Their steps were almost perfectly synchronized, their feet silent on the grass and then sidewalk and then tiles; and then the door swung shut and he was alone, save for a junior reading under the shade of a tree.

... What had Athena just told him, exactly?

 _They are considering dropping their stars_ , his brain provided, and Ray frowned. Athena had been a little dramatic about it all, but from what he could garner, the program Mr. Treble had mentioned in the morning, back when his headache had been oppressive, was not prestigious at all. But hadn't their teacher harped on James and CC for not doing as well? Yes, he had, he could recall the feral expression on Mr. Trebs' face – he'd given CC detention for talking back, too. So what was Athena trying to tell him, really?

They wouldn't try to trick him, would they? _No_ , he thought with a slight shake of his head. Athena and Alucard only fought dirty when their opponent did, this he had seen for himself in the pits. She had shown him a video of Team Rocket brutally beating back Gym Leaders and Ace Trainers alike; they still held the Radio Tower, as far as he knew, and he took out his tablet to check for more articles to confirm. They did, and he bit his lip when he saw the death count in the hundreds.

Had she known about the Silph Co. articlehe'd shown Josephine? She's must've – that was why she had decided he was 'competent', if nothing else. Team Rocket's terrorist attacks were relevant, then; somehow, they pertained to the stars on his collar, and one hand absently rose to cover them as he thought. He'd heard vague mutterings about Team Aqua and Magma for the past few days, and he remembered Lester mentioning offhandedly about checking up with his family back in Sinnoh. Team Galactic must have also revived in that case.

So all the Teams were around, then.

And Athena was implying that the program was relevant... somehow. And not in a good way.

He could feel the blood drain from his face as he stood and hurried back into the school, shoving his tablet back into his bag as he speed-walked along. She'd said Mr. Treble had wanted the whole class to know about this – and if she had only told him because of his so-called competence, then that meant his friends didn't know, and _that_ meant...

He needed to tell them before they got to the pits. Even if Athena was wrong, it was better safe than sorry.

* * *

 _EVENING: Courtyard_

" – and then he made me sort all of his freshmen's history papers alphabetically!" CC flopped dramatically on the grass. "Lestia, Mr. Treble is the worst kind of person. You can't be friends with him."

Lestia shrugged, tugging her jacket a little more tightly around her. "He's always been nice to me."

"It's all an act! He's lying. He'll betray you one day, I promise."

"Don't you think you're overreacting?"

" _No_ ," CC said vehemently, at the same time that someone else said, "Can I interrupt?"

Both girls stopped and turned their heads to see who had spoken – and Lestia immediately looked away when it was Lune, while CC said, "Oh, hey, guys! I didn't know you were friends."

"Of a sort," Ray said, stepping past Lune to stand over the redhead. "May I speak with you, CC? It is rather important."

"Uh, sure?" CC took the offered hand and pulled herself to her feet, looking back at Lestia as she dusted off the back of her legs. "You all right on your own?"

"I'm shy, not useless," Lestia reminded her quietly, and CC gave her a sharp grin and followed Ray when he gestured for her to walk. They didn't go far – just under a tree across the way, the sun's low angle casting them in deep shadow – and, once assured CC hadn't started an argument, Lestia took in a deep breath and stood, forcing herself to at least face Lune. She still couldn't quite look him in the eye.

"You have family in Johto?" Lune asked after a few moments, during which she said nothing.

"Yes," Lestia said, and she swallowed and said, "They're... fine. Mostly. Um." She'd fought with her older brother before she'd left for Ossos, but it had been such a relief to hear their voices when she had called that she had sobbed out apologies. It was fine, though: everyone was safe and sound, she and her brother had forgiven each other, and they were hiding out in New Bark Town at the moment. "My younger brother got hurt, but he's fine."

"Oh. That's good."

Neither of them said anything for a while. Lestia felt the pressure to try and fill the silence as always, but she didn't act on it.

Lune cleared his throat when it became apparent she wasn't going to say anything. Lestia looked over at him, feeling heat creep onto her cheeks, and he gave her a small smile and said, "So, about the thing Ray's telling CC. I'm supposed to tell you, too."

"... Okay."

"Walk with me?"

She stared when he offered her his arm, like that was a completely normal thing to do. His eyes were earnest and blue when she flicked hers up, and after a moment she tucked her hand into his elbow and followed him as he led her out of the courtyard. She knew it was stupid to assume the murmurs from other students were about her, but maybe they were, and she felt slightly sick to her stomach as they began to make a perimeter around the school building itself.

"So, uh," Lune said, a little awkward, "You remember the program Mr. Treble mentioned this morning?"

"Yes," she said softly.

"And how it was supposed to be prestigious and that the principal would only pick the top students to be a part of it."

"Yes."

He paused, laughed slightly; then, "It turns out that it's probably bullshit. According to Athena, at least. And Mei and Lester."

Lestia's stride stuttered, though she kept walking along, and she said, "The attacks from the criminal syndicates are – um, they're related somehow?"

"Got it in one," Lune said, sounding a little fond, a little proud, and Lestia felt more unnerved than anything else. They weren't _anything_ yet, but the grip on her arm seemed almost a little too possessive. "The only problem is we don't know how the Teams are blackmailing the principal into – doing whatever it is the program will be."

"... Athena must have her guesses. And, um, you too, if the articles on the online newspaper mean anything."

"You read it?" Lestia shrugged minutely in response, and Lune's grin was wide. "What do you think?"

"It's good," Lestia answered.

"That's it?"

"No, but, um. I don't really know what to say." She was struck that while she did not want to be here, she didn't actively feel like she needed to leave, that she was in danger, that she was extremely uncomfortable; and maybe that was a good thing, she thought, giving him a glance sidelong, but then again... her eyes narrowed slightly. "Does this mean, um, we should try to lose stars?"

"I'm gonna follow Athena and Alucard's lead," Lune said, and while he didn't protest when Lestia slipped her arm free of his, he didn't seem pleased, either – though he still stopped walking when she did. They were not far from the courtyard, not far away from prying eyes, but Lestia still felt better knowing it was close. "I imagine they'll set the tone for the rest of our class. Mei and Lester are good, but they're pretty tightknit with the Double A's in a lot of ways."

"I thought they weren't friends," Lestia said quietly.

"Oh, they're not," Lune said offhandedly, and he bumped his shoulder with hers and she jumped, surprised. His smile was apologetic as he said, "But being on relatively good terms is beneficial for them both. School politics can be complicated."

"Politics?"

"You think teachers give them a lot of free rein just because they're great battlers?"

Lestia gazed at him. He was smiling, confident now, awkwardness shed like a cloak. _In his element_ , she thought, and she suddenly began to wonder.

She looked at Lune now – _really_ looked at him, brushing past the feminine face, the wide eyes, the long blond hair, the white gleam of his teeth as he smiled – and the more she did, the more she could see it. There was a practiced curl to his grin, one that made it more a smirk, more friendly, more pretty; his eyes crinkled at the corners, but it looked like he was observing more than he was looking. She'd seen this face on her younger brother's back home when he'd skillfully lied to their parents about where he and she had gone for the afternoon.

Lune was happy, a little brash, friendly, but there was calculation there, too, a cunning she hadn't ever noticed before. He was in the newspaper club; he was Mr. Treble's favorite in some ways, if he was editor-in-chief. He knew the inner-workings on the school's social network, he'd interviewed three of the Ossos grads around the school before dinner, and wasn't he also on 'relatively good terms' with Mei, Lester, Athena and Alucard, too?

The more she thought about it, the more cautious she became. He'd known _exactly_ what to say to her at the fall dance to make her give him a chance. How much of him was genuine?

"Lestia?" he asked, and she realized she'd been silent for a little bit longer than was socially acceptable.

"It's nothing," she said, suddenly a little cooler, some of her shyness fading away; she'd been bullied back home, she knew how to deal with people who didn't take her seriously, and she breathed in through her nose and hardened, mentally. She'd been accepted at Ossos. No matter what Lune might think of her, she _wasn't_ weak. "Let's go back. I have homework to finish before the evening's battles."

"Uh, all right." She set the pace this time, and he matched her stride, eyebrows furrowing. "You okay? You seem a little tense."

"I'm fine. I just remembered something I have to finish soon."

The answer clearly did not satisfy him. Now that she was looking for it, she could visibly see the moment he mapped out the puzzle in front of him and began looking for ways to solve it, and while she felt that little bit of nausea in her stomach again, part of her knew she could take him, now that she had an idea of what he was like.

"See you in the pits?" she asked as they rounded the courtyard and CC and Ray came into view. She could only catch snippets of what they were saying, and it was entirely in Kalosian.

"Yeah," Lune said, and because she was feeling brave and a little bold, just a little, she placed a hand on his arm briefly before pulling away towards her friends. Lune clearly hadn't been expecting it because he was grinning when she cast a quick glance over her shoulder – and it stayed on his face as he went back inside the school.

As soon as she was gone, though, everything collapsed. Her knees felt weak; she swallowed hard and felt her mind begin to panic about everything she'd said, everything she'd done. What had she been _thinking_ , even? Why had she even looked past Lune's façade in the first place, what had pushed her to do that, why had she touched his arm before he left, why had she felt so brave –

"Don't think for a second that I missed that," CC said when she got close, and Lestia nibbled her lip when the redhead shot her a huge smile. Ray merely watched her, expression unreadable. "Good conversation?"

"Um," Lestia said, and that was all she could manage.

* * *

 _LATE EVENING: The Pits_

Athena and Alucard were almost never called up first, but James felt a stab of pity for their opponents as the two made their way to one of the open arenas in the pit. Two other battles were already underway, but most of the students' attention was focused on the one about to begin, and James nudged CC by his side to get her attention.

"I still think we should've practiced more," he whispered when she turned her head to look at him.

She didn't answer, instead blinking once at him, owlishly, before she refocused on the match about to begin. James rolled his eyes – in his opinion, she was taking the whole "the program is bad!" thing a little too seriously – but followed suit, watching as Athena and Alucard sent out their Gardevoirs as they always did. Their opponents, a pair of girls, sent out an Umbreon and a Pachirisu, and he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees as the referee in his box told them to begin.

And then Athena and Alucard looked at each, nodded, and looked back to their Gardevoirs. Without a single word, the two Pokémon's willowy legs folded underneath them, and they sat down and did not move. A hush descended over the bleachers, and James found his fingers clenching each other tightly enough that it hurt. Beside him, CC's violet eyes were wide, and her mouth hung open.

Their opponents were startled for only a few seconds before they shouted out commands. The Umbreon lunged forward with a Bite attack, the Pachirisu sparked with electricity, and after an agonizing two minutes in which the Gardevoirs took endless attacks without so much as blinking, Alucard and Athena returned them and sent out their other Pokémon.

The same thing happened again: the Blaziken harrumphed and crossed its arms, unmoving, while the Nidoqueen stood completely still, rocking slightly when attacked but otherwise snorting in derision.

The battle was four minutes long. When Alucard returned his Blaziken, the entire place was dead silent, save for Umbreon and Pachirisu attacking Nidoqueen; the other battlers hadn't bothered to fight, as well, instead watching the event unfold. When Nidoqueen fell and Athena returned her to her Pokéball, even the announcer was quiet.

James had never been a place where the expression 'you could have heard a pin drop' was applicable. Now he knew that this absolute, oppressing silence was exactly what that meant, and he found himself barely breathing as the two seniors stepped towards the center of the arena, patiently waiting for their opponents to step up and remove the stars from their collars with shaking hands.

When they did, the crowd rushed to their feet and roared – James and CC among them, and when he turned to meet her eyes again, he knew exactly what they had to do.

"To the best loser," Lune said from ahead of them, just loud enough to be overheard from the crowd, he and Josephine turned in their places to send them identical smirks. Further along, Mei and Lester were exchanging glances, expressions unreadable.

From behind him, Ray sighed and said, "I will admit that I will miss the food."

* * *

 **Hey dudes!**

 **Item number first: so, as an apology for not updating during the holiday season, I wrote you a longer chapter! I hope you enjoy it and also remember that I am sorry, but I am also a busy full-time student and finals are coming up. Thanks for your patience! I really do appreciate how you guys always assure me you don't mind waiting.**

 **Item number next: commentary! This chapter really got rolling as soon as I got past a few select scenes, and I mostly feel pretty good about everything. The plot's a little more obvious in this than the previous installment, at least, so there's that for you. I also got a lot more characterization in for a lot of the OCs, which is always nice, plus I managed to include a fair number of non-class 1-A OCs in here, too. (Sorry, Gefahr. You'll get your chance.) All in all, I'm pleased. Are you pleased? Let me know in reviews or PMs, which I always read but never have time to respond to in full. Just know I'm very grateful and appreciative of and for your support!**

 **Item number next: everyone should keep in mind that if you don't like someone, you don't have to give them a chance. And, on the flip side, people aren't required to give you a chance - an example being you could buy your crush tickets to see their favorite band, and they aren't required to take you, nor are they required to be your friend. Being 'nice' doesn't automatically mean you'll get the girl, or the boy, or the person, and if that person rejects you, you aren't entitled to whine about how much you gave them and how much of an asshole the other person is.**

 **Item number last: I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be safe and have fun.**

* * *

 **Credits go where credits are due. In order of appearance:**

ALUCARD DATE **belongs to** DeathTheManiac **.**

GREGORY DOE **belongs to** snowwolf12132 **.**

BRYAN TREBLE **belongs to me.**

CICELY WEISS **belongs to** Legacy918 **.**

LESTIA WHYTOO **belongs to** Tisuro **.**

RAYNE ZIMMERMAN **belongs to** ShadeZyro **.**

JAMES CLEMMER **belongs to** ThatGreenPlumber **.**

MEI HUANG **belongs to** xSakura-Dango **.**

JOSEPHINE ACOSTA **belongs to** unleash-hell-little-one **.**

LESTER DAWSON **belongs to** WereDragon EX **.**

LUNETH GATES **belongs to** Apostle of Regeneration **.**

CHASE MCCLOUD **belongs to** ShadedLyht **.**

ROSE GOODMAN **belongs to** The M.H.T. of R.

SAPPHIRE ARGENT **belongs to** Cottonmouth25 **.**

SHAUN KURO **belongs to** mr. diddles **.**

ZAK FRIDITY **belongs to** J.530 **.**


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